What is the purpose of a keynote?

Marcia Reynold's post about her experience at the recent NSA Convention in Orlando sparked a few thoughts for me.


Marcia shared her feelings as an audience member (and expert speaker and coach to speakers) and asked keynotes to give something better than their best advice, and to ask powerful questions that gave the audience a chance to think for itself.

It's a great article, and I'd encourage you to read it.  I like that Marcia's approach is founded on a respect for the audience.

And it also got me thinking: 

What are keynote speeches for?  Is the benefit what we think it is?  Or is it actually something different?

Now I'd bet that many a conference has been sold as a good way to share information with participants.  But mere transfer of information has never been the reason that in-person conferences succeed.


A meeting might be justified on the grounds it transmitted knowledge, but in fact the real benefit was in the hallways outside the venue, and in the bar and restaurant in the evening. 

In the past an effective keynote would lead to a successful conference not only because of the information transmitted (that information may be valuable, but forgotten) but because of the power of a great speaker to get people feeling a similar way at the same time, to give them a common experience so they can connect with each other and create a bond.

Whether the keynote message got through or people changed behaviour might not have been critical,  provided it created a platform to build relationships in the hallway outside.  

In that light a keynote speech could be seen as giving people who don't know each other something in common to discuss, a foundation to build a relationship on, based on high ideals.

To achieve that end, a keynote which got people connecting to their neighbour would be more successful than one which was wholly from the platform.

These factors are why webinars don't effectively replace in-person meetings. Webinars may transmit information, but they don't create relationships between participants nearly as effectively as in person meetings can.  (There is scope for webinars to create relationships between the audience and the presenter, if done well - the support offered by Craig Garner at Magpie Media is helpful in this regard)

To come back to my question: What is a keynote for?

If connection is  important, then providing an opportunity for the audience to connect with each other will accelerate the benefits.

If behavioural change is important then asking Marcia's style of questions to open up the audience to changes they can make will reap rewards.

That doesn't mean that entertainment and inspiration are unnecessary.  It just means that a good keynote, a great keynote will be do so much more.