The best keynote I deliver is one that changes how someone thinks, acts, or decides two weeks after they’ve left the room, not how they react in the moment. I know it landed when the messages and conversations keep coming back weeks after the keynote ends. That’s the number one metric I use to measure a keynote’s success.
That’s the standard I hold myself to. It’s why I pour everything into every single talk I give.
A few weeks ago I received two messages that stopped me in my tracks. Both from people who had attended recent keynotes. Both unprompted. Both about The Run Within, the battle between Voice One and Voice Two.
Messages I received after the ASTMA x GMA National Conference (left) and from the Metricon Homes Construction Forum QLD team (right).
The first was from a woman called Naiomi, who attended the ASTMA x GMA national conference. I usually block out names to protect people’s privacy, but Naiomi has given me full permission to share her story alongside her name, because she said the impact was so profound. She had been invited to play golf at King Island, a bucket list destination for any golfer, but almost said no because fear was holding her back. She is scared of flying and only small planes service the island. Her first instinct was no way. Voice One loud and clear. But then she remembered something I had said about not letting fear stop you from doing something incredible, and Voice Two took over, reminding her “how amazing an opportunity” she had. She told Voice One where to go, got on the plane, and had “the most amazing trip”.
The second image came the evening of the day I spoke to the Metricon Homes QLD division, at the Metricon Construction Forum. This message came from a man I had personally inspired to believe in himself more, and to consciously understand his own war with Voice One. He said that on the bad days, he would remember what I’d shared and use it to back Voice Two. I’m grateful I was able to impact him, and that my Two Voices framework could support him through his bad days.
These messages are why I do what I do.
Not for applause. Not for likes on social media. Not for status. For the moment someone takes time out of their day on the evening of a keynote, or weeks after it, to tell you that something shifted for them. That they got on a plane they were terrified of. That they are going to remember your framework and personal story on their hardest days. That is the aftereffect I am chasing every single time I step on a stage.
And I want to be honest about something. Public speaking is not a skill I was born with. I am still learning it every single week, still developing my stagecraft, and my ability to connect with a room to leave something in it that lasts. Warren Tate has been helping me with communication since 2020. Chris Fudge is helping me bridge my athletic world with the corporate one. The work will never end for me, and I am proud of that. The moment you stop seeking advice and practicing your craft, you’ve lost.
There is a saying that athletes make the best motivational speakers because they understand endurance. Not just physical endurance but the mental kind. The kind that keeps you going when every logical reason to stop is staring you in the face. The kind that has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with the decision to keep showing up. There’s real truth in that. Because when you have lived the hard thing, when you have been through the darkness and come out the other side, your words carry a weight that is hard to manufacture.
That is what I bring to a stage. Not a polished script. A lived story. And the connection that comes from sharing it honestly with a room full of people who are carrying their own version of the same battle.
Because here is what I know about Voice One and Voice Two. They are not unique to me. They are not unique to endurance athletes or elite performers. They live in every person in every single room I walk into. The leader who knows they need to have a hard conversation but keeps finding reasons not to. The team member who has a goal they have been putting off for years. The person sitting in the back row who came to the conference already checked out and left with something they did not expect.
That is what a great keynote does. It meets people where they are and leaves them somewhere different.
She got on the plane. He is going to back Voice 2 on his hardest days. And somewhere out there someone is training for their first marathon, finally applying for the promotion they have talked themselves out of for two years, or having the conversation they have been avoiding with a loved one.
That is the aftereffect. That is what I am building toward with every keynote, every newsletter, every coaching session, and in every story I share.
This is why I love what I do. And I’m just getting started.
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Sean
