place to tell someone how to live their
life or run their business,” he says. “I’m
far from having it all figured out. But
I think my gift is inspiring people to
do the things they already know they
should be doing, but can’t get themselves
to do.”
Rapidly approaching the 2,000
speech mark, Vaden believes there are
two keys to excelling on the stage: pre-
senting as frequently as possible, and
putting yourself in the audience’s seats.
“When I started out with Southwestern,
they used to say, ‘It’s hard to be nervous
when your mind is on service,’” he says.
“So I go into it with the perspective of
trying to understand what it’s like to
be the person listening to me. What is
it like to be in their life? What are they
struggling with? If I were that person,
what would I want to hear?”
To accomplish that in his 75-minute
keynote, which covers three of the Take
the Stairs principles, Vaden modifies the
age-old formula of weaving stories with
key points. “My method is to tell a story,
make a point, and teach a technique,” he
says. “I think people love that, because it
strikes a great balance. You want to tell
stories, but you don’t want to be fluffy.
You want to give meat, but you don’t
want to be boring. The technique is in
teaching the audience how to do what
they need to do. Discipline is timeless.”
Applying that same discipline,
Vaden believes, can help take anyone’s
speaking business to the next level.
“If you do the things you know you
should be doing, when you don’t want
to do them,” Vaden says, “your busi-
ness will explode.”
I’m far from
having it all figured
out. But I think
my gift is inspiring
people…
Contributing writer Jake Poinier confesses to procrastinating more than he should—but he always chooses stairs over escalators. He can be reached at
Jake@BoomvangCreative.com.
