No one would have bet on this, but by all accounts, yesterday's SXSW keynote by Twitter CEO Ev Williams flopped. It's poignant here, because so many thousands of people looked forward to this keynote as a highlight of the interactive conference--even Gray's piece is titled, "The SXSW Keynote With Ev Williams You Had Hoped to See." His long wishlist for the talk indicates that would-be attendees came there--as most audiences do--with many questions they'd hoped the speaker would answer. Louis Gray sums up what happened succinctly: After thousands of Twittering geeks and quasi-geeks alike had settled in to the packed exhibition hall and overflow rooms to hear the latest updates delivered straight from Twitter's leader, their excitement soon turned to boredom and finally, severe annoyance, as the interview's pace, tone and content fell well below expectations .

Right now I am sitting in the opening session at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC. Paul Murphy, chief speechwriter at General Motors, is giving the opening keynote - describing the role executive communications played in the reinvention of the [...] ...Tags: Tags: Speechwriting Ragan Speechwriters Conferenc The event just began and already the energy is amazing.

Because of Bart's achievements, he's been invited to give a keynote at his company's next conference, and in reviewing his accomplishments, he has pinpointed four main steps in the process that helped him get to where he is today. In working with Bart on his keynote, it has occurred to me that these are principles that would benefit just about anyone who wants to reach higher, grow in their business or better themselves in any area, including public speaking. Download audio here. I have a client, Bart Baker , who has grown a successful insurance office over the past 22 years or so.