Keynote Speaking
A keynote that changes what your audience says on Monday morning
Michael's talks are built from two decades of watching real audiences react to real language — dial by dial, phrase by phrase. Audiences don't just leave inspired; they leave with words they can use.
Why this keynote is different
Most talks about communication are built on anecdotes. Michael's are built on evidence. For more than twenty years he has sat behind the glass in focus group facilities across the country, watching consumers, investors, employees, patients, and policyholders react — moment by moment — to the messages companies believed in. The pattern is remarkably consistent: the language organizations love is very often the language their audiences trust least.
That gap between what you say and what they hear is the subject of every keynote. Michael shows the audience actual before-and-after language from the industries in the room: the phrase that sent the dials down, the small rewrite that sent them back up, and the principle that explains the difference. It is part research briefing, part performance, and part intervention — because most people in the audience will recognize their own slides in the "before" examples.
Signature topics
- The Language of Trust. The flagship talk. Why audiences stopped giving companies the benefit of the doubt, and the four principles — personal, plainspoken, positive, plausible — that separate credible communicators from everyone else.
- Communicating in a Crisis of Credibility. How to talk about mistakes, risk, and bad news when every stakeholder assumes the worst. Includes the anatomy of apologies that work and those that quietly make things worse.
- Selling Ideas to Skeptics. For sales organizations and leadership teams: how to present price, change, and complexity in language that lowers defenses instead of raising them.
- The New Rules of Employee Communication. Why internal audiences are now the most skeptical audience of all, and how leaders can talk about transformation without triggering the corporate-speak alarm.
Formats and logistics
Every talk is customized. Before the event, Michael reviews your industry's language — websites, earnings calls, sales decks, internal announcements — so the examples on screen feel uncomfortably familiar. Standard formats include:
- 45–60 minute conference keynote, with optional moderated Q&A
- 90-minute leadership session with interactive language rewrites
- Half-day executive program combining keynote and working session
- Virtual keynotes and webinars for distributed teams
Michael speaks at industry conferences, client summits, sales kickoffs, board offsites, and leadership retreats. He has addressed audiences in financial services, healthcare, insurance, energy, technology, professional services, and the public sector — anywhere trust is the product being sold.
What event organizers can expect
Working with Michael is deliberately low-friction. You get a pre-event briefing call, a customized deck reviewed in advance, clean AV requirements, and a speaker who arrives early, stays for the hallway conversations, and never phones in a canned talk. Post-event, attendees receive a one-page summary of the principles and example rewrites so the ideas survive the flight home.
"Half the room laughed because the 'before' slide was funny. The other half laughed because it was theirs." Conference chair, national industry summit
Book the keynote
Dates fill several months ahead, particularly for spring and autumn conference seasons. Share your event date, audience profile, and objectives, and you'll receive availability and a topic recommendation within two business days.