Do You Really Need A Professional Safety Speaker For Your Next Event?

When is an outside professional speaker for your meeting more effective than an in-house speaker?

After my presentation for his company, a CEO commented to me en route to the airport, “You said exactly what I have told them over and over again but they listen to you.” This is not just true for a safety speaker, in fact, a quote in the Bible conveys this truth of communication. “A prophet is not without honor except in his own home town.”

Safety Speakers Get Results

When people say listen, they often mean take action. The CEO and their safety people have educated their employees with everything they need to know to work safety. Then why don’t they? The missing element is motivation. As a motivational safety speaker, I have given my audiences what I call the “self-motivation” to act in a safe way. A professional safety speaker induces action as a result of their talk.

You’ve even experienced this in other communication contexts. People complain their leaders never listen to them. Perhaps a significant other in your life says, “You never listen to me.” Even a customer giving feedback feels they are ignored. From a communication perspective, what is happening is they actually mean something other than “listening”. The leader or you have listened but you didn’t take the action the people thought you should.

A safety motivational speaker knows the secrets to getting action. An invited speaker brings the unexpected. It overcomes the, “They always say the same old thing,” syndrome.

It’s scary how many safety pros get the leadership to invest in a safety meeting and to save money, fail to bring in a speaker who will get the results they want. If you just want to fill up time with a speaker put anyone in front of the room. If you want results, bring in a professional.

Get The Most For Your Money

If you have annual safety kickoffs, quarterly safety meetings, safety celebrations or other safety meetings, you are faced with the challenge of getting the most for your investment.

Let’s face it you are spending money just to hold a meeting or event. There’s the cost of employee time off the job or overtime to stay after their shift or come in early. There is your time and the time your staff puts into planning and carrying out the event.

There is the cost of a venue either onsite or off. If it’s offsite there is the additional time needed for going from the job to the meeting place.

One way get the most out of your investment is to have a safety speaker come who is willing to do multiple presentations per day. This way you can have several smaller groups and find a place on site.

An added advantage of onsite meetings is they are learning the safety skills right where they work. I love doing meetings in maintenance bays, warehouses, firehouses and tents or temporary buildings used for turnarounds and outages.

It’s nice when you find a speaker willing to speak on multiple days with a break in between. Because of complicated shifts and days off it is often helpful to have meetings for example on a Monday and then again on Wednesday. We have never charged extra for this day in between as it is no different than a travel day to my next presentation.

Knowing What Is Appropriate In Today’s Business World

There are dozens of safety speakers out there and only a handful whom I would recommend. First off, experience counts. One of the most important factors you need to consider when choosing a speaker is do they understand what is appropriate content in today’s business environment. This alone can make or break your career.

I had one client who had quite the story. At one meeting, I asked the person who hired me what specifically was the reason they hired me instead of any other speaker. Their answer really floored me. They said, “I hired you because I knew you wouldn’t get me fired! WOW, I was expecting something like, we hired you because of your magic, great content, powerful storytelling, etc. Nope – it was because they knew I was a true business professional whose material is always appropriate no matter who is in the audience.

It turns out they had previously brought in a guest speaker to teach defensive driving. That speaker came from the world of comedy clubs and as with most comedians they believed their job is to break the rules and push the limits. This particular speaker had the belief that if you insult all races equally then it’s ok. No, it’s not! This incident almost got the safety professional fired.

A true professional safety speaker understands it goes beyond being politically correct; it’s about being effective. When someone uses material which is offensive to anyone in the audience they have just turned that person off to their message. To illustrate how well I am respected in this area – I have spoken on the subject at a human resources conference years ago. An experienced professional understands how to make an impact without offending anyone’s values.

In the past 29 years, I have been the first professional safety speaker a company has brought to their site. This has been because one of their employees or safety team members saw me speak at a regional or national meeting and came back to their site wanting all the employees to learn what I taught them. If that’s how you found me and you are that person needing help convincing your committee to choose me, give Diane Weiss a call at +1-209-745-9419 and she can give you some great tips to convince your leadership. You can also show them some sample videos at: https://drebinger.com/videos/. If you want them to hear what some of my clients have to say check out: https://drebinger.com/video-testimonials/. This way they can see and hear that which you are so excited.

Is Being Injured A Credential?

One very popular yet least effective presentation is what I call the, “Do As I Say, Not As I Did” type of talk. If you would like to read more about this check out my Special Report #1 “The Biggest Mistake Safety Teams Make In Choosing A Safety Speaker” https://drebinger.com/the-biggest-mistake-safety-teams-make-in-choosing-a-safety-speaker-special-report-01/

There are only three injured speaker presenters I recommend. If you want to know who they are you can give me or Diane a call. I have coached each of them on how to make their personal story effective. Without coaching, an injured worker talk can actually be a safety-demotivator.

Having had an injury doesn’t mean you know how to motivate others to safe action. There are two unconscious messages which are dangerous. One is, “I ignored the safety procedures but YOU shouldn’t!” The second goes on in the minds of the audience. They think, “The speaker violated the safety rules and now they get to travel around the world speaking…” Either way, without crafting their message properly, the audience gets the wrong direction.

Familiar With Your Industry’s Audience

A speaker who has experience in your industry make them more effective. Over the past 29 years, I have learned safety from over 400 clients in every field you can imagine.

A Speaker Who Can Customize Their Message For You

If a safety speaker or their representative doesn’t start out by asking you about your meeting and what your outcome is, RUN. When you call my office we will ask you about your outcome, your employees, and the particular audience to which I will be speaking. We then can make a suggestion of what presentation will serve your needs best.

Diane can tell you sometimes people call who are looking for a speaker and they don’t know what questions they should be asking. That’s where an experienced meeting planner is invaluable.

Multiply the effectiveness of the investment you have already made of time paid away from the job.

Our offer:

A consultation with John and his meeting planner to listen to what you want;
Customization of a message to get the desired action;
A speaker who arrives the day before your meeting ensuring he will be at your meeting instead of stuck at some airport on the way;
A call when John arrives so you can sleep well the night before your meeting;
A speaker who arrives at the beginning of the meeting or an hour before he speaks to make sure everything is just right;
A meeting planner with a checklist developed over 28 years to assist you with your logistics. (Check out our special report on Logistics: “Safety Meeting Logistical Nightmares Solved” CLICK HERE); and
A speaker who can do up to three presentations per day for the same price. (Sometimes John can fit in a fourth one for a slightly higher fee.)

How Can I Get The Most For My Investment?

John can meet with your safety team and site management the day before his employee talks to deliver one of his communication skills seminars.

An example of getting the most for your investment.
Day one – John meets with the site management and safety team. He gives them his, “Safety for Leaders” talk. In this 2 hour presentation, John helps them make safety a personal value. They then learn how to convey this message with congruency.

Because of the effectiveness of this message to the leaders at one site they made it a point to go to every person in their work area to be sure they attended John’s employee presentation.

Before, they may have even encouraged someone to miss the employee safety meeting in favor of staying in their work area and skipping the safety meeting to get something “more important” done.

They actually asked the first line supervisors where certain people were who had not arrived at the meeting yet.

Make Attendance Mandatory

Some companies do not make attending a safety meeting or kickoff mandatory. I have never understood this as they make production or marketing meetings mandatory. This sends a powerful message that safety is not a value for that organization. For those who have other reasons for this policy I would suggest you make this meeting mandatory as employees don’t know what they will miss if they sit it out.

When John is at a large site for several days to speak to all the shifts the word gets out quickly and people are sure to be there. The challenge is no one expects a safety meeting to be so good.

What About Using One Of Our Own People

Couldn’t one of our own people do as good a job? Possibly, but let’s face it, when you need something fixed or have a problem to be solved, you want the best, most experienced people working on the solution.

When you want to move an audience to action it only makes sense to bring in a professional who has 29 years of experience motivating people to take action and make better choices.

Remember action and safer behaviors are what you want. Dozens, if not hundreds of safety speakers can move an audience emotionally with their story, but having the skills to get them to go beyond an emotional response takes an expert.

In-House Speakers

In-house speakers are great to use for smaller, more intimate presentations. One client had a person speak to people in their work areas. A control room, break room, and even outside at a job site. These smaller sessions allow employees to feel more connected to the speaker and their message. Also, because they are local you can spread them out over several days without incurring hotel and extra costs. These can also be a good way to keep the focus on safety up to the level you want between major safety meetings.

This is also a great place for leaders to talk. Most corporate executives value input from the workers doing the job. If you have them go from work area to work area they can share the typical safety talk and then stay to hear questions or other input from the employees. At one refinery, the safety pro made appointments 15 minutes each. Then with plenty of time between sessions they could visit with and listen to employees before they had to get to the next location.

This also saves time because the employees just stop where they are working and listen so you don’t have to pay extra time to get them to and from a meeting location. They don’t have to come in early or stay late for a meeting.

Using your in-house speakers for the short meetings is a better use of these resources.

Bring in a professional speaker for the BIG meetings.

Certified Speaking Professional

Everyone in safety knows about the CSP designation Certified Safety Professional. Coincidentally, the highest earned designation confirmed by the National Speaker’s Association is Certified Speaking Professional, CSP. Most sites have a CSP in safety on their safety staff as the designation means someone has met a high standard to achieve the certification. The same applies in the world of professional speakers. Only 15% of all the speakers in the National Speaker’s Association ever earn this designation. There are only a few of us in the field of safety who hold this certification. Trust me – this designation ensures you are getting a top speaking professional who knows how to effectively deliver your message.

An Experienced Meeting Planner

A speaker who has their own exclusive meeting planner to help you with all the elements of a successful safety meeting for over 29 years. Diane who has helped our clients whether it was their first event or their 20th. There isn’t a logistical problem for which she hasn’t found a solution. We probably should charge extra for her expertise, checklists and insights but it’s all part of John’s professional package.

Membership in a Professional Safety Association

John is a proud Professional Member of the American Society of Safety Professionals, ASSP. He has shared his expertise at their national conferences for over 24 years in a row. His sessions are often standing room only.

Now is the Time For You to Take Action

When you consider all we have covered in this report, I can assure you the small additional investment you make in hiring a professional safety speaker is well worth the results. Take a moment right now and call Diane Weiss at +1 (209) 745-9419 or email her at diane@drebinger.com
Multiply the effectiveness of the investment you have already made of time paid away from the job.