Everyone likes to feel special. I do and so do you. So, why not use this universal desire to make your next safety talk or safety meeting stand out as a memorable, feel-good event?! Of course your main purpose is to move your audience to action, but you’ve got to touch their emotions and get them on your side to do that well.
Last week I had a blast giving a before-dinner keynote and then a half-day workshop for the safety leaders at Leadec. One thing that made my dinner talk stand out (and turned out to be a “just right” ending) was a Hip-Hop song I wrote about the “Techs at Leadec.” I provided the lyrics (see below), music and the audience provided the percussion by clapping in time to my chord strums.
Whenever you can, include something in your safety talk or meeting that is unique and could only apply to your audience. (In a future blog on research I’ll share a poem I wrote for a Morton Salt audience). It doesn’t have to be a song or poem; it could be an activity or a story about someone in your audience. If you’re speaking to a group outside of where you work than just including a not-well-known detail about the company will go a long way to endearing you to the people listening to you.
Here’s the Leadec song lyrics (I got much of the material for the song from their website and through conversations with the person who hired me.)
“SAFETY IS OUR LIFE”
If you need the tech to meet any of your specs
Then you’ve gotta hook up with the pros from Leadec
We install, maintain, support, and optimize
And when it comes to safety we never compromise
If you gotta produce, we’ve got the juice
Over 16,000 strong with us, you can’t go wrong
For more than fifty years we’ve been making clients smile
That’s because we safely go that special extra mile
And when it comes to safety, you should see us shine
It’s not something we take lightly it’s important all the time
Efficient exceptional with a competitive edge
We do it all safely cause our word is our pledge
Whether we’re a friend, husband, daughter, son or wife
Us professionals here at Leadec believe that “Safety Is Our Life”