It starts with knowing WHY you want the speaker. The specific requirements of your event and your audience at your function all add up to something unique.
From a keynote presentation intended to energise and provoke ideas at a conference, to seminars teaching your sales staff the principles of goal setting and motivation, to entertaining clients at a Christmas function – In every case, you want a motivational speaker because you want results. After listening to a motivational speaker you want the audience to come away with a new understanding and a different attitude – to think differently and act differently. You want them to enjoy themselves too!
So before any presentation I will always meet with you to understand the background and goals of the occasion, the size and demographics of the audience, and what content needs to be put across in what manner so that my presentation and delivery can be specifically crafted to meet your needs, and you get maximum value from having me.
That said – here is what I typically get asked to do:
• To help achieve peak performance in an organisation
• Entertain and inspire staff and clients
• Provide insight into outrageous (but achievable) goal setting
• Provide techniques for maintaining motivation and persevering through adversity
• To help create high performing teams
To help give you a better idea of what I present on, see the box below. Of course the content of these speeches can be mixed and matched or new content created for your specific situation. Email me or phone me to have a chat, or get some ideas from below.
This workshop will get your participants to identify unhelpful beliefs and behaviours and replace them with empowering new attitudes and techniques.
If you are looking to embed a culture of high performance in your business. If you are about to set an audacious task to your team, or if you have already set that task and progress is poorer than expected than this workshop is what you need.
Fearlessly Facing Challenges Presentation by keynote speaker Kevin Biggar
Few things stay the same in business. Competitors get faster and smarter. Consumers want more for less. To take your organisation to the next level of performance will often require setting and achieving audacious commercial goals – be it dramatically raised sales targets or rapidly developing new products.
However, when a team is handed a challenge that requires them to step out of their comfort zone, they may not always react with delight. If they are not fully engaged their efforts may only be half-hearted, leading to a lack of progress and a self-perpetuating cycle of discouragement. Energy that could be spent on making headway is instead siphoned off into making excuses and justifying poor performance rather than taking personal responsibility for the things that can be changed.
This presentation confronts those unspoken doubts head-on, and provides tips, tools and realistic strategies to help refocus team members on what they can control. It helps them build resilience, create momentum and achieve success.
I have a lot of sympathy for teams taking on a big challenge – when I was considering taking part in the trans-Atlantic rowing race, or trekking to the South Pole I was mesmerised by how this was very likely to lead to a lot of painful suffering and then death. The brain is very good at coming up with sensible reasons why it might be wiser to take on other objectives – particularly when you don’t have any rowing background and are prone to seasickness.
The very first step was dealing with the perception of risk, and I share a very powerful insight that was pivotal on setting me back on track, correcting my attitude.
Then there is the distance. If you’ve flown across an ocean and looked out of the window you may have remarked at how much water there is in the world. If it seems like a lot when you are at 30,000 feet and travelling at 700 miles an hour, then you can imagine what it feels like when you are down on the water going 3 miles an hour. You spend all day rowing towards the horizon and what do you find when you get there?
Only another horizon.
Under these circumstances it is extremely easy to feel overwhelmed, and perversely it becomes very difficult to make yourself do what is required to make progress. I share the three techniques that allowed me to break this cycle and continue persevering at maximum effort.
I focus on the questions and objections that take place during the various stages of a challenging project that if left unanswered will cripple motivation.
• Why do we need to do this?
• What about the risks?
• But I don’t know how!
• How committed do I need to be?
• What if we don’t get along? (for new teams)
• We’re not making any progress!
• Is it going to be worth it?
With each question I provide a technique, or a new belief that will assist team members to achieve more than they thought possible without sacrificing their sense of humour or sanity along the way!
• How to take action and break the grip of inertia
• How to deal with the perception of excessive risk once and for all
• Tips for getting along with other team members
• The secret to maintaining motivation when progress is slow
• The key to help ensure that you enjoy the journey
"We have had numerous motivational speakers over the years. None have had the resounding impact that Kevin had. The quantity of unsolicited feedback from our employees clearly indicated the excellence of Kevin's presentation. Kevin inspired the team by showing an every day person can achieve outstanding results."
-Ah Leen Rayner, Marketing Manager, 3M
“Inspirational and entertaining! Kevin’s humour and fascinating stories about his adventures kept our people enthralled. His story was inspiring and showed our team that no matter what obstacles you may encounter, you can overcome them and be a success. The feedback from the convention attendees on his presentation was fantastic. I can definitely recommend him.”
– Ella James, McDonald's
Kevin Biggar takes pride in delivering tailored keynotes and workshops that are fast paced, entertaining and informative. Packed with practical skills and techniques to enable participants to make a significant impact in their performance.
Kevin has a B.Sc degree from Auckland University and a Masters in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge, UK.
He worked for the NZ Treasury and the Boston Consulting Group before deciding to take part in the world’s toughest endurance event- the trans-Atlantic rowing race. Despite not having rowed before he won the race and set a new world record.
Together with his rowing partner Jamie Fitzgerald he went on to become the first NZ team to trek unsupported and unresupplied to the South Pole. He has authored three books and co-hosted the TVNZ adventure documentary series ‘First Crossings’ and ‘Intrepid NZ.’
There is plenty of evidence to show that teams produce better results than individuals – but only when a team is functioning well! Everyone has experienced the frustration, aggravation and productivity loss of being in a team that is dysfunctional. If the team dynamic is starting to turn sour it is best to address it early before problems become entrenched.
This presentation is about improving the culture within a team, about setting up the ground rules for behaviour and heading off problems before they become serious issues. It’s suitable for a team that’s just starting out, a team that is starting to show a few cracks or a team that wants to take their performance to the next level.
Often dealing with the issue of poor performance in a team and relations with other team members can be delicate. Sometimes the manager can find themselves too close to the personalities involved to intervene and having an external trainer in to address team behaviour can be pointed and confronting.
However, because I’m outside of your organisation and have a wide range of teamwork anecdotes from my adventures to draw from, I can, if required, present the messages without making it obvious that that was the point of the session. By including relevant teamwork incidents from my adventures and how they were resolved in the wider story, I smuggle in the message and leave a legacy of anecdotes that can be referred to should the problems appear again.
An expedition team shares the same dynamics as a team set up in the business place. In both cases people of different backgrounds and varying abilities take on a common goal with limited resources and tight timeframes. So the insights from one environment are directly applicable to the other.
I learned about teamwork the hard way. I spent nearly six months trying to find someone else who wanted to row across the ocean (it’s much harder than you think), and trained together for nearly a year only to have them withdraw just three weeks before we were due to fly out to the start. As a result I rowed with his last-minute replacement, Jamie Fitzgerald. We barely knew each other before setting off on our 5000 kilometre journey. The Atlantic rowing race and expeditions to the South Pole have been absolute graveyards for teams. Relationship breakdowns are one of the main reasons why roughly a third of all attempts to row an ocean fail. It could have been a disaster, but it wasn’t. We developed some simple rules that helped us become a very effective team.
As hard as the Atlantic row is on teams, the Antarctic is even harder. Many high-profile expeditions have returned with the members barely speaking to each other. While down there I became convinced that Jamie’s habit of breaking things and losing vital equipment (like the stove lighter) would either kill us or end the expedition. There was a dramatic resolution to this and I share the insights.
If the presentation is to team members I focus on the behaviour expected from team players and the right attitude and expectation to bring to the team. If it is to managers I focus more on how to set up a team for success.
I start by focusing on the five things an individual receives from a team. To be a good team player these are the things that you need to contribute – it’s a lot more than just being good at your job. Then I go into what different personalities bring to teams, and why that diversity is crucial, how it can lead to problems and how these can be resolved.
This presentation helps create a team that is competent, collaborative and committed. Each participant will be able to answer the question ‘What can I do to help the team function its best?’
“We have had Kevin speak to our two operational teams over the last few months. Not only does Kevin tell an inspirational and funny story of his adventures over the last few years, he expertly weaves in very powerful safety messages that helped us strengthen points that we have been focusing on internally. He had the crowd engaged from the first minute and I have had nothing but positive feedback from the team. I would have no hesitations recommending Kevin to anyone.”
Jono Brent, Chief Executive Officer, Connetics
“Thank you, Kevin for a truly inspiring and motivating presentation. I was looking for an outstanding speaker to address a large group of our business leaders on teamwork, leadership and periods of significant change. In making my selection, I was guided by the excellent background and testimonials on your website and that was actually surpassed by your delivery. You made strong connections between your very entertaining account of your experiences and our desired leadership behaviours and examples. Your presentation was the highlight of our workshop and your standing ovation was testament to that.”
– Mary Bulog, Customer Service Manager, Inland Revenue.
Kevin Biggar takes pride in delivering tailored keynotes and workshops that are fast paced, entertaining and informative. Packed with practical skills and techniques to enable participants to make a significant impact in their performance.
Kevin has a B.Sc degree from Auckland University and a Masters in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge, UK.
He worked for the NZ Treasury and the Boston Consulting Group before deciding to take part in the world’s toughest endurance event- the trans-Atlantic rowing race. Despite not having rowed before he won the race and set a new world record.
Together with his rowing partner Jamie Fitzgerald he went on to become the first NZ team to trek unsupported and unresupplied to the South Pole. He has authored three books and co-hosted the TVNZ adventure documentary series ‘First Crossings’ and ‘Intrepid NZ.’
Every organisation faces times when performance plateaus, when the work force is firmly within their comfort zone. At these times what is needed is a bit of a circuit breaker, something to knock the problems and challenges back into perspective, something to get people excited about how much more there is to achieve. This presentation confronts unspoken doubts head-on, and provides tips, tools and realistic strategies to help refocus team members on what they can control. It helps them build resilience, create momentum and achieve success.
When I was preparing to row across the Atlantic I had an incident that illustrates the difference between simply turning up and taking part, and true high performance.
I went in to see my coach one day to get an update on my training plan. He looked up from his desk when I came into the office and said ‘Kevin are you planning to win this race, or just take part? It doesn’t matter which it is but I need to know.’
I said, ‘Well I hadn’t really thought about it, I guess I’ll just try my best and see what happens.’
Which makes sense right? After all, all you can do is your best. But his response was ‘No, no, no! If you want to win this race you have to decide now, because everything about your preparation will change if you decide to win.’
So I thought for a moment and then said, ‘Okay, I’ll win’.
He was right. Everything did change. From the amount of money that I spent to shave a few grams of weight off the boat, to the quantity and quality of my training, to the effort that went to seek out experts and develop innovations for the boat, everything changed. I know that if I hadn’t been committed to winning there would have been hundreds of decisions where I would have chosen more ‘sensible’ options and with the best of intentions it would have resulted in a completely different boat being wheeled down the ramp at the start-line.
Increasing performance is not just about increasing effort. If that was all that was required to succeed or win at the Olympics, then there would be some nutcases training 26 hours a day. It’s about getting the right mindset and then developing a strategy that focuses on those areas where your effort is going to result in the greatest payoff.
In Antarctica the extreme conditions and poor progress put the team under a lot of pressure. It was necessary to focus on and build on what was going right, rather than what was going wrong and carefully monitoring morale. The experience provided incredibly useful insights about how to keep performing, and keep a team functioning when the going gets really tough.
Yet the key to getting through tough times is not being ‘hard’ it’s about being careful with what you are focused on. I share insights about perseverance and resilience from leading psychologist Martin Seligman.
Your staff or delegates will leave this presentation with fresh tools and a new approach for taking on their challenges and lifting their game.
"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Kevin, you made us laugh and you made us think! Your presentation at our staff meeting was inspirational and downright entertaining. You tailored your presentation to us so well in such a short timeframe and made it easy for us to take it to heart! Several people are already applying the 3 bastards rule - one is going to recommend it to their manager. The HR team got plenty of ideas to use in coaching managers and staff to focus on the goal and not drain energy. “Yeah/Nah” was completely relatable for everyone. I will be reminding several people in my own team from time to time and inviting them to keep me on my toes too. Just brilliant."
Mary Sinclair Jones - Manager People and Capability, Civil Aviation Authority
“We cannot thank Kevin enough for speaking at not one, but two of our national conferences this year. It’s not easy to captivate, entertain, inspire and engage the attention of conference weary delegates but this wasn’t a problem for Kevin. They visibly straightened up, found some energy and reacted to his fascinating story telling. We wanted to end our conferences on a high, with a positive inspiring message for our people to leave to use in their day to day lives. We think Kevin is Oarsome and with complete confidence would recommend him to anyone to add that something special to your meetings.”
Bronnie Macpherson, Professionals
Kevin Biggar takes pride in delivering tailored keynotes and workshops that are fast paced, entertaining and informative. Packed with practical skills and techniques to enable participants to make a significant impact in their performance.
Kevin has a B.Sc degree from Auckland University and a Masters in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge, UK.
He worked for the NZ Treasury and the Boston Consulting Group before deciding to take part in the world’s toughest endurance event- the trans-Atlantic rowing race. Despite not having rowed before he won the race and set a new world record.
Together with his rowing partner Jamie Fitzgerald he went on to become the first NZ team to trek unsupported and unresupplied to the South Pole. He has authored three books and co-hosted the TVNZ adventure documentary series ‘First Crossings’ and ‘Intrepid NZ.’
Boost Your Resilience.
Boost Your Resilience.
This presentation is about making your team more resilient to setbacks. It will provide them with tools to enable them to better persevere through difficult times and cope better with change.
Nothing worthwhile is easy. In every role in every part of an organisation setbacks happen frequently - whether they come through external shocks, cyclical down- turns or through our own unintended, unexpected screw-ups.
The Japanese have a wonderful saying ‘Fall down six times, get up seven.’ To keep going when the going gets tough is an essential skill. In many areas of life the single most important factor predicting success is mental toughness or ‘resilience’ - the ability to bounce back after shocks and setbacks and not dwell in unproductive emotions.
For many people this is easier said than done. There is a tendency to internalise the reasons for a failure, generalise the failure to other areas and to believe that things won’t improve.
While a minority of people are lucky enough to have a natural predisposition towards resilience, the good news for the rest of us is that there are skills and techniques that, if learned, can dramatically improve our mental toughness.
To significantly increase your staff's ability to:
Manage the impact of setbacks
Maintain performance during high stress and pressure situations
FORMAT: Either an engaging and informing 60 minute overview, or a punchy, entertaining and interactive 2 hour workshop.
CONTENT: Recovering from a setback is an emotional process. To influence that process we need to shift our understanding about how emotions work.
We examine how the emotions you experience after a setback are a result of how you explain the setback. These explanations are always of 3 types - the 3 ‘P’s. Attendees become experts at recognising the 3 Ps in their own post setback thinking. Finally delegates are introduced to a series of questions that challenge unhelpful interpretations.
Points are emphasised with anecdotes from The X- factor, The Matrix and high performance sport as well as my own experiences facing setbacks while preparing and taking part in the trans- Atlantic rowing race and trekking to the South Pole.
The workshop concludes with a graduation test. Three examples of people responding positively to high stakes setbacks are given. Participants find that using their new skills they are able to perfectly predict how they react!
As a result of participating in this presentation delegates will know:
Delegates using these insights will be
“I’d like to thank Kevin on behalf of the team at ALGIM for delivering a memorable experience for our delegates. Kevin was a pleasure to work with, and we look forward to dealing with him again in the future.
Here is some feedback from our delegates [regarding his Mental Toughness keynote]:
Fantastic! Everyone needs to hear this Brilliant presentation, interesting and thoughtful - Eye-opener - Great tips - Will use this moving forward - Wickedly awesome! - Best motivational speaker I have heard - Exceptional - Very inspirational and motivational.”
Gee Mason, Events Coordinator, Association of Local Government Information Management
Kevin Biggar takes pride in delivering tailored keynotes and workshops that are fast paced, entertaining and informative. Packed with practical skills and techniques to enable participants to make a significant impact in their performance.
Kevin has a B.Sc degree from Auckland University and a Masters in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge, UK.
He worked for the NZ Treasury and the Boston Consulting Group before deciding to take part in the world’s toughest endurance event- the trans-Atlantic rowing race. Despite not having rowed before he won the race and set a new world record.
Together with his rowing partner Jamie Fitzgerald he went on to become the first NZ team to trek unsupported and unresupplied to the South Pole. He has authored three books and co-hosted the TVNZ adventure documentary series ‘First Crossings’ and ‘Intrepid NZ.’
Turning mountains into molehills
Turning mountains into molehills
Driving your organisation to greater success requires setting and achieving goals that currently seem ambitious. Unfortunately, it’s one thing to set an audacious goal - it’s another to get your team to emotionally invest in a target that seems beyond what they are currently capable of and make meaningful progress towards it.
The tendency for people to stay inside their comfort zone is strong. When faced with a new challenge some will immediately find silent ‘reasons’ for not committing. You can attempt to encourage with external rewards and incentives but you know yourself that even with the best will in the world there is often a gap between wanting a result and doing something about achieving it. And when commitment is half hearted progress can be poor and motivation falters.
This intensive half day workshop identifies and confronts the internal road blocks to achieving audacious goals. It provides participants with a set of tools and insights to help them remove their internal barriers to success and make a step change in performance.
This workshop is about lifting performance. It gets participants to identify the mental ‘road-blocks’ to their success and replace them with empowering new attitudes and techniques. Through discussions, team and individual exercises, participants learn and practise the tools to be more effective, confident and resilient as they take on their challenges.
This workshop starts from the position that motivated, capable and well-resourced people won't achieve at their potential if there are gaps in their skills or they have limiting attitudes and beliefs.
This workshop is particularly effective because the content is highly customised to the requirements of the attendees. Prior to the workshop participants are anonymously surveyed to diagnose the most common mental barriers. These typically include:
The results are presented back to the team and then ‘antidotes’ are provided, discussed and then applied to their individual circumstance. The result is a bespoke solution, tightly coupled to your organisation’s objectives, and the individual's requirements. No role plays, no interpretative dance, just relevant information and focussed, highly interactive and inclusive exercises.
A workbook is available for the cost of printing.
By the end of this workshop participants will:
(Note that content will vary depending on the issues currently facing participants.)
Here is an example of the content from a recent workshop.
“I don’t have what it takes”
- The distinction between a Fixed and Growth Mindset
- Do you have a Fixed Mindset?
- The importance of application and practice, rather than natural ability, to success
“What if I fall short?”
- Understanding the distinction between having a failure and having a setback – and what the point of a goal really is
- The difference between ‘Outcomes’, ‘Goals; and ‘Processes’, and the role each plays in successful goal setting.
“Its going to be too painful!”
- The limits to rational thinking when assessing whether to take on a daunting challenge
- Five ways to get emotionally engaged with your goal
“I don’t know how”
- Avoiding the common trap of overestimating your skills.
- How to do a skill assessment and where to get solutions
“I can’t seem to get started”
- Identifying ways to make your key tasks more enjoyable.
- The ‘Pomodoro’, ‘Goop’ and other techniques for smashing procrastination.
“I’m never going to get there”
- Understanding that the fuel of motivation is making progress.
- The four different ways to measure progress.
Recently IAG were looking for a workshop to bring one of their new brand values of ‘Brave’ to life to key product development and underwriting staff. Participants were taken through a customised version of 'The Breakthrough Workshop'.
We asked Kevin to help us explore one of the dimensions (Braver) of our new company Spirit. He adapted his material very skilfully to this topic and his use of technology really helped us engage as a team, and gave bravery a whole new meaning. It was inspiring as well as entertaining and gave us great tools to add to our kit going forward.” - Allan Dornan, Chief Operating Officer Executive, IAG NZ Ltd
In early 2016 Refresh Renovations were looking for an inspiring keynote followed by a highly practical goal setting workshop for 40 of their franchisees at their annual conference in the Gold Coast. The objective was to encourage them to set and achieve audacious goals for the year.
Kevin presented twice at the 2016 Refresh Renovations Annual Conference. We were spellbound by Kevin’s “My Oarsome Adventure” speech which was followed by the half day Breakthrough workshop. Both sessions were fast paced, inspiring and very relevant to business, with a great touch of humour. It was great to learn about how we can use Kevin’s methods to achieve our own success.” - Matt Steele, Franchise Operations Manager, Refresh Renovations
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Kevin filming 'First Crossings'
Kevin Biggar takes pride in delivering tailored keynotes and workshops that are fast paced, entertaining and informative. Packed with practical skills and techniques to enable participants to make a significant impact in their performance.
Kevin has a B.Sc degree from Auckland University and a Masters in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge, UK.
He worked for the NZ Treasury and the Boston Consulting Group before deciding to take part in the world’s toughest endurance event- the trans-Atlantic rowing race. Despite not having rowed before he won the race and set a new world record.
Together with his rowing partner Jamie Fitzgerald they became the first NZ team to trek unsupported and unresupplied to the South Pole.
He has authored three books and co-hosted the TVNZ adventure documentary series ‘First Crossings’ and ‘Intrepid NZ.’
Most TV these days is Reality TV, and the latest trend is to take an occupation and turn it into a show. If you're a lifesaver you've got 'Piha Rescue'. If you're a vet you've got 'Vet Tales'. If you're a housewife you've got 'Real Housewives'. If you're single you've got 'The Bachelor', and if you think you've got talent you've got 'NZ's Got Talent'. Do you see the trend? They're coming for you next!
In this action-packed presentation I prepare you, the audience, for your career in front of the camera by taking you behind the scenes of the filming of 'First Crossings' and 'Intrepid NZ' and sharing what I've learned.
Did you think that TV used to be better back in the old days? Let's take a look at this clip from 1977. Just to be clear about how weird it is. This is two white guys (or maybe black guys?) dressed as black guys who are dressed as Mariachi's singing to a fake horse's head.
They don't make stuff like that any more! Instead they make Reality TV . But the idea of Reality TV - that the audience could be the subject of the show - has been around for a long time, in shows like 'Candid Camera.'
The host of the show, Alan Funt, was a household name and instantly recognisable. In 1969, when the plane he was on was hijacked and flown to Cuba, the passengers on board were very anxious. Until someone recognised Alan Funt in the front row. Then they all started laughing. They were still laughing as they got off the plane in Havana!
You'll learn how to come up with a format for your show and how much 'Man vs Wild' has in common to 'Dating Naked'. We'll fire up the Format-A-Tron and find a format and even a name for your new show.
You'll find out about the three stakeholders that need to be satisfied before you can get your TV show off the ground, and how the inspiration for 'First Crossings' was in fact 'The Secret Life of Dancers'.
Real life doesn't come along with cliff hangers every 22 minutes - but film crews expect to be paid anyway. So I'll explain how you sometimes need to give reality a helping hand - are you ready to play 'Real or Fake'?
I'll talk about the hardest times in the shooting. When things got so difficult and dangerous we had to put the cameras away - Jamie's brush with death on the Buller river and going blind climbing Mt Aspiring. And the strange curse that seemed to follow our show from location to location.
You might think that now you're on TV you'll be hanging out with Taylor Swift's posse and shooting hoops with Bieber. More likely is that you'll be in drag, under a gunge bucket putting on a lipstick for Sunday morning kids TV (I wish I was joking).
Being a celebrity may not make you famous, but it does give you super powers. I'll show you how you can find out what the world actually thinks about you!