Liam Scott: ‘Corporate theatre’: Innovative techniques for getting your speaker heard and remembered

According to Scott, speechwriters are the Canadians of the business world – people don’t pay attention to us unless something goes wrong.

“A day after a speech, people may not remember what you said, but they’ll remember what they think of you.” That’s why Liam Scott prefers not to write speeches but rather to present what he calls “corporate theatre.” He’s created dramatic and successful executive communication programs as elaborate as a six-act musical play and as simple as a no-PowerPoint speech.

He has come to the conclusion that the formal speech is dying if not dead. These days, audiences put a premium on authenticity, not on ideas. “A day after a speech, people may not remember what you said, but they’ll remember what they think of you.” And if you read your speech yesterday, and used a slick TelePrompTer and hid behind your PowerPoint, they won’t think well of you today-especially if you delivered a typical corporate speech, Scott adds: “Ninety-five percent of the speeches I see read as if they were all written by the same computer.”

Of course, most speechwriters know all this is true; many CEOs know it but do nothing to enliven their message. CEOs from hidebound industries like banking, Scott says, are “anxious to be on message all the time. They feel the need to be part of the machine, even though they know the audiences aren’t buying it.” In seven years since he quit his last traditional speechwriting job to found Sugarvision, Scott has been clever and lucky enough to find corporate leaders who are interested in communicating effectively with modern audiences-and willing to take the necessary chances.

“I try to make it a little smarter,” Scott says. He took the time to show the conference how to make it smarter too, by:

What is corporate theatre?

The typical corporate event is a pep rally with the theme “Go Big” or “Pump It Up.” Scott’s productions are often much more elaborate.

To wit: He created a six-act musical play for a meeting of car dealers in Las Vegas. The play, which involved a chorus girl and the ghosts of the Rat Pack, interspersed thematically and creatively supported executive presentations about the need for car companies to rise from the middle to the top of their industry.

Not all of Scott’s case studies are so gaudy; many are simple, and most of them seem designed to involve humanizing corporate issues. In his first meeting with the CEO of a shopping-mall empire who wanted to meaningfully mark the 40th anniversary of its founding, Scott ascertained that the CEO himself was turning 40. The comparison between an organization turning 40 and a person turning 40-a time to consider your health, a time to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, and the CEO bought it immediately.

Some of Scott’s ideas, in fact, are characterized by their simplicity. A telecommunications CEO client was one of a series of speakers at a technology conference. Scott looked at the program and noted that all the other presentations were highly technical in nature and he surmised all of them would involve an impressive PowerPoint presentation. So he advised his client to do no PowerPoint and instead to get up there and just tell a story. The CEO, a longtime client, agreed only grudgingly, telling Scott, “I’ll try it. But if it bombs it’s your fault.” He didn’t blame Scott when conference-goers were slapping him on the back and thanking him for sparing them another PowerPoint snoozer.

Scott says the common difference between traditional corporate meetings and his corporate theater is that his shows respect the intelligence of his audience. “I try to make it a little smarter,” he says.

How to transform your work into corporate theater

Add narrative, setting, and characters. The core of the idea is to generate a ‘shared experience’ among the audience.

Scott measures the effectiveness of speeches by marking lines above, in middle and below sentences on the speech script to show if audience was engaged, indifferent, or disengaged at the time it is delivered. He found that off-the-cuff remarks were most appreciated by audiences. People liked the unscripted as more ‘in the moment’.

There’s not much drama in a typical speech. Look for ways to recover unpredictability and shared experiences. Realize people won’t remember the facts you tell them. They’ll remember how to make them feel. Focus speech on that and build in theatricality.

Corporate Theatre is all about finding common ground with another area of human endeavor and linking that to corporate messages.

When structuring it look at Narrative and Setting:

Research the history of the hotel, location, date of event – any unexpected elements? Where’s the nugget?

What is company situation?

Brainstorm by writing ideas that come to mind on big legal pad. Use free association.

First And Best -> Fab -> Fab Four -> Band Together … lots of spin offs with videos and demonstrations. Photoshop salespeople to look like Beatles.

Example: For a sales Award trip to Jamaica they used Reggae songs with a message that were played onstage by a live band. Drew links to corporate messages. Speakers were interviewed by a well-known Canadian TV Host.

Example: Model a company convention on a political convention.

In all these the element of uncertainty, wondering what’ll happen next, means people pay far more attention.

Example: Doing a talk-show is one of the best and most effective ways to create a sense of shared experience. Lots of options: a Morning Show “Brand New Day”. Make up artists, animal trainers etc from everyday talk-shows are al applicable. Interviewing customers and executives onstage far more compelling than any prepared speech. People like the feeling better than being talked at.

Execution is key — how speakers fit into creative presentations. Capture the persons’ character, how they talk on the golf course, how they make decisions. Screenwriters know: characters are defined by the decisions they make.

Build in rehearsal time and minimize use of teleprompter which acts as a wall between the audience. Keep PowerPoint slides to a minimum, use images.

How to sell these fancy ideas to the executive.

What creative communicator wouldn’t prefer to create a fascinating event to a stale old speech? But how
to sell big ideas to cautious clients?

Scott says there are two essential ways:

1. Building up trust with clients over time so that they’ll take a risk on your recommendation.
2. “Having the confidence to suggest an idea right away” with a new client, Scott says.

When you sell to conservative clients be sure to emphasize the links to their business interests. Bring these out in obvious ways. Start with VP Marketing to sell the idea. They can sell it to actual speakers. Focus first efforts internally not on higher-stakes external speeches. Look for measurements around company culture and employee satisfaction and turn-over.