Safety Speakers Insights – Family Members Watching Out

Safety Speakers Can Learn From Their Audience

Great safety speakers can learn as much from their audience as the audience learns from them. As a safety speaker I had the pleasure of speaking at two conferences this year held by Innovative Risk Management. The first meeting was in Dallas, Texas. As with every successful meeting or conference, there is one person responsible for the logistics and all the background activities, which make the event a success and make everything run smoothly. For these conferences that person was Melinda. The person in this role is often in the meeting room but focused on logistics more than the actual presentations going on in the room. I wouldn’t expect these dedicated individuals to take notes or even get the main points of my talk.

Effective Safety Speakers Keep Audience Attention

In the case of Innovative Risk Management, I was pleasantly impressed with how their entire logistical staff not only attended my session but actually learned the main points and took action. I discovered this at the second meeting, which was in Las Vegas, Nevada. I always arrive early so I can set up my magic props but most importantly so my clients can relax knowing I am there ready to go. While I was setting up Melinda walked over and asked if I had a minute. I said sure and she then shared a great story with me. As an effective international safety speaker it was a nice compliment that she paid such close attention.

Melinda shared with me how she applied what she learned in the session at her home. She realized that as a mother quite often she had to tell her two daughters, “Stop that you could get hurt,” or would just tell them no when it came to something that wasn’t safe. She shared with me that she thought about what I taught and how she could apply it with her children.

The next time she saw one of her daughters doing something unsafe instead of just telling them to stop she asked them, “Hey, would you like me to watch out for your safety?” She told me they would look up and say yes. She would then tell them what they were doing could hurt them. They then stopped doing the unsafe act. This is very powerful because they now know the why behind the behavior they are being asked to perform. Evidence of how well they have taken the input is shown by the fact they are now asking Melinda if she would like them to watch out for her. She has of course told them yes. This is exciting for me as I love hearing how people use the techniques they learn.

I thanked Melinda for paying such close attention to my talk. It is always a nice compliment to me that my presentation is so engaging and effective that it keeps people’s attention even in the face of distractions that all audience members face in today’s technological world.  In fact safety speakers have many distractions with the audience having laptops and tablets and phones in their possession during a talk. I thanked Melinda for sharing the story with me and I asked her permission to tell the story in this newsletter.

Make sure your employees share the concepts they learn at work, from you, or invited safety speakers, with their families. When I teach Would You Watch Out for My Safety? ® I ask people to take the concepts home and apply them there. That is one of the advantages of each employee receiving a copy of my book. They can take it home and share it with the people they love.

School Safety and the Home

Have you ever had your children come home with a home safety inspection paper, a bike safety note or some other safety education item that is meant to share at home? Help instill safety as a value for them by being an active participant in discussing the subject with your child. They will notice if you just brush it off or suggest you don’t have time for it, as an indication that safety isn’t important. Do them a favor by being an interested participant.

When you need the most effective of all safety speakers, who can catch and keep the attention of your employees and share a safety talk which will reduce injuries please give us a call at 209-745-9419 and bring me to your site to discover injury preventing solutions. You can email Diane Weiss at diane@drebinger.com
Until next week,
I’ll be, “Watching Out For Everyone’s Safety™”
John
© 2016 John Drebinger Presentations
Permission to use granted when credited and contact information included. www.drebinger.com +1 209.745.9419