Found this feedback on a conference keynote I give and it’s put a spring in my step all day

“I have seen Stephen speaking on more than one occasion and I’m a strong advocate of his material.
The talk is fun and engaging with a deft touch. Mainly though I think the content is vital.
It has a demonstrable ROI and is hugely relevant in this time of constant change.
I would recommend it to anyone serious about the long term success of their business”
Caspar Berry

Over the past two weeks I’ve spoken to two groups about business changes happening in the UK and thought I’d share some of the discussion.

As we all know the past few years has been full of stories of greed, corruption and poor business practice. MP’s expenses, Bonuses for failure, phone hacking, payments to officials by journalists and even match-fixing in sport. No wonder some people wonder if the whole world in on the make!

Marketing being reviewed
So it’s come as no surprise to me that many business teams are looking at their marketing and highlighting their ethical and moral values image to customers and to each other. It includes behaviour of staff both inside and outside of work, guarantee of product satisfaction, standards of production, client handling, remuneration and so on.

Extravagant displays of wealth
But how will this translate in the future? I think that extravagant displays of wealth by companies and their employees are a thing of the past in order to avoid this reflecting badly on companies. Gone are the days when bankers will be photographed swilling Krug after their bonus payments. Not because they aren’t buying Krug or getting a bonus but because the Bank doesn’t want such photographed splashed all over the media and causing adverse comment from clients and regulators. Teams are being warned to avoid displays of wealth that may reflect badly on the employer.

Future displays
One wonders how business will display to clients in the future?
Will offices be more spartanly decorated, how much will be spent on flowers and art, whether to have leather or plastic visitors chairs for reception and how will employees dress?

I also suspect that in the future customers will favour businesses that look as if they don’t spend too much on employee comfort. This will be especially true of professional firms such as solicitors and accountants that charge fees and supply a service. On the other hand they won’t want to look as if they are short of money!

Yet I can’t see the customer abandoning their desire for the latest Apple Iphone and even the latest fashion clothing item.

It looks like being an interesting balancing act for business.

Earlier this week I was talking with some business friends on how large (or small) a persons network needs to be able to achieve certain business and life goals. These are the figures they came up with but I’d be interested in any feedback. What was interesting is how small the groups are when people are working for a person’s success

• To be able to move jobs easily…between 100 & 500 at appropriate level
• Success in a new job…team + boss + key influencers
• To have a successful on-line sales business…over 10,000 contacts in list
• To be famous… 10-25 team of promoters, press agents (accepted that fame is relative)
• To have Social Media, press, TV Influence…25,000 – 100,000 followers +
• To be happy…between 5 and 25 very close friends

Completely unscientific and after a few glasses of wine but what is interesting is that the smallest figure is the one for happiness.

If you listen to the radio or watch TV news you’d be preparing for the end of the world as we know it. Economic turmoil, strikes, food and water shortages are all being predicted. Yet I’m detecting there’s also a huge amount of good feeling about. New business teams are being brought together, projects started and thriving.

Two examples from just yesterday

Riverbanks Clinic
Today I was thrilled to hear that a great friend of mine, Dr Ravi Jain, who set up The Riverbanks Clinic just a couple of years ago and last year won three awards in the Aesthetic Medicine Awards, has won two more awards this year.  After such a short time Riverbanks must be ranked as one of the leading aesthetic clinics in the UK, if not further afield, and it’s not surprising that Ravi’s now travelling all over the world speaking at conferences.

When Ravi started he was focussed and had a great vision of what he wanted and I was delighted to have been able to help in a very small way but thrilled that all his hard work is showing such fantastic results.

Nick Hine Legal
Another great friend of mine, Nick Hine has set up his own solicitors firm Hine Legal in the City of London and specialising in personnel issues. Last night he had his official launch party, one month after he started work. One of the speeches revealed that he’s already landed one of the UK’s leading retail stores as a client. Destined for great success I feel.

There is all sorts of good news out there if we look

Yesterday I had an interesting meeting with my good friend Warren Cass, the founder of Business Scene, discussing what type of speakers audiences were wanting to hear at networking events and business conferences.

My contribution, as a business speaker, was that I’ve noticed that audiences have changed what they are wanting to hear from the stage. I’ve detected that audiences are no longer willing to listen to the motivational speaker
encouraging the audience to “Do it like I did” or the “How to
improve…” talk or even worse the “I’ve written a book you’ll love to
buy” talk. Instead they are wanting information that’ll help them, and their business teams, survive and even prosper in the future and through these difficult times.

The future of speaker’s keynotes
I predict that the during 2012 people will be wanting to hear speakers offer an opinion on what the future holds, practical tips on how to survive the economic downturn and how teams can be made more efficient and profitable. That’s not to say that people want to be bored to death or filled with statistics, they won’t put up with that either! The talks will have to be entertaining, energetic and full of information. An interesting time for the future of the conference speaker and for those booking them for their audiences.