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The Moderated Conversation: The Industry’s Answer to Saturation
In an era of AI-driven answers, author and moderator Dr. Rod Berger examines the value of meeting moderators and storytelling in live events.
In a world of endless answers (thanks to AI), pontificating from a stage may require the live events industry to adapt future offerings that value substance over style, behind-the-scenes over press releases, and talent capable of providing exclusive and authentic experiences tailored to specific audiences.
I’ve interviewed over four thousand individuals, including United Nations officials, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, Deepak Chopra, rapper Vanilla Ice, and Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar. I’ve obtained an audience with the Pope and researched the origins of storytelling in a Ugandan refugee camp.
The moral of the story remains the same, regardless of longitude or latitude — humans connect through shared experiences.
If the answers to shared challenges (work-life balance, building leadership skills, enhancing corporate culture, etc.) are a click or a savvy prompt away, then creating new and engaging live or virtual experiences is warranted.
Last month, I joined Opal Lee, the 2024 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and the ‘Grandmother of Juneteenth,’ on stage. I captured Opal’s story with nearly 2,000 people during a moderated conversation.
The benefit of this approach?
The audience experienced an organic conversation that artfully wove through the highlights of a 98-year-old woman’s epic journey through trial and triumph.
The alternative?
Opal politely declined the invitation to keynote the event. Why? Well, she probably didn’t want to stand up in front of an audience for an hour.
I recently spent time with an award-winning writer with whom I share a kinship because she moderates autobiographies of some of the biggest titans in business worldwide. Traditionally, Laura Morton, a New York Times bestselling writer 21 times over, across 60 books, would be labeled a ghostwriter. Laura, though, is a collaborator, and like moderated conversations, the stories of some of the most accomplished minds might not make the bookshelves if it were up to said leader to write their memoir.
I have enjoyed spending substantial time with celebrities, professional athletes, and Grammy-winning artists, and I can confirm their hesitance to give keynote speeches. Exceptional bureaus and agencies highlight their rosters with prominent names and faces that impact all areas of life. The inclusion of an experienced moderator and storyteller offers a distinctly engaging opportunity for the roster, event and meeting planners, and audiences who appreciate a unique conversation.
The key, not to be left to the perils of assumption, is to integrate a collaborator or moderator who is a storyteller. Traditional journalists often come to the stage with an audience slant associated with their publication or outlet of record and often generate conversations scooped from the bin of press releases harboring static data and hollow quotes. The audience experience risks being tepid, at best.
Alternatively, a moderated conversation emphasizes the keynote speaker’s narrative — the underlying reasons, the human impact and experiences involved, and the story they have told and wish to share — while leaving easily accessible data to press releases and Google.
This isn’t a new idea; I’ll acknowledge that. Most of us have participated in events led by the CEO, Chief Communications Officer, or brand ambassador. There’s a clear difference between a traditional journalist moderator, a company’s CEO leading the discussion, and an impartial storyteller — our attention is on the keynoter’s narrative, not the news about them. Press release interviews and fireside chats focused on talking points frankly disappoint.
I am in the throes of completing my first book about storytelling (Wiley), and part of my regime involves rewatching interviews from my past. I am struck by the rich difference in body language when discussing surface-level items versus the why of their respective stories.
The art and impact of speaking originate from the philosophers of millennia past. A transformative speaker stimulates the playground in our mind to swing higher, run faster, and smile wider. The planet’s axis rotates at an increasingly higher rate of speed, or at least it feels that way. Every screen that we call our own smatters answers to life’s conundrums moment-by-moment. Seven steps to becoming a better leader. Five cheat codes to a satisfying job, and so on.
Several years ago, I had the honor of meeting and interviewing the bestselling author Daniel Pink. He was kind and engaging, and he provided a uniquely exclusive experience. In his MasterClass, Pink points out that one of the challenges we face as a society relates to the overwhelming amount of information coming at us, stating that we are “… stimulus-rich and context-poor.”
Our industry will always be in flux, and that is likely a healthy teeter-totter to be on. We remain present, aware of our surroundings, and ready to rebalance when necessary. I welcome the occasional shift in our approach to forever-changing audiences. There will be moments when agents wonder, internally, if they could sell a different type of keynote rather than lose the lead altogether.
When an NFL quarterback or a renowned fashion designer hesitates at a proposed keynote offer, consider flipping it – instead of rejecting the request, suggest an alternative that serves the keynoter, the client, and the audience through a moderated conversation.
It takes two to tango, and the speaking industry will most likely be on the hunt for additional dance partners to meet the moment and the stages of opportunity worldwide.
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