Speaking

 

Bob Welch has the uncommon ability to tug at an audience’s heartstrings and tickle their funny bones, sometimes within the same story. “But what I enjoy most is making people simply think,” says Welch. “What people seem to be starved for these days is a sense that they actually matter, particularly in the workplace. And my talks, whether about American Nightingale, Pebble in the Water, Easy Company Soldier or Where Roots Grow Deep, often focus on that very idea — that, yes, we do. More than we often know.”


In short, his presentations are:


❦ Authentic


“Above all, I want to be real,” he says. “Genuine. Me. What you see an hour before my talk is what you get when I talk and an hour after I talk.”



❦ Inspiring


“I’m not the guy who’s going to inspire you to go out and make a million bucks,” he says. “I’m the guy who’s going to convince you that your job is so important that you’ll want to work harder and smarter, because of your renewed pride. You’ll want to be a team player. You’ll want do whatever you can to make a patient or client your top priority. Above all, I’m the guy who’ll make you go home each day glad that you decided to become a doctor or nurse or teacher or 911 operator or whatever you are. I remind audiences of the nobility of their work — and of the nobility of them for doing such work.”



❦ Custom-crafted


As a speaker, Welch’s journalistic background makes him a tad different than some speakers. Beyond having a heightened concern for accuracy and deadlines, he routinely interviews, weeks before a talk, people who are part of the organization to whom he’ll be speaking.


“I partner with every organization to whom I speak,” he said. “I like the feeling that I’m privileged to become part of their team for a short but important assignment. And I want to do what I can to make the event a winner.”


❦ Sprinkled with humor


Welch, winner of the National Society of Newspaper Columnist’s top prize for humor writing in 2005 and a regular judge of the Erma Bombeck Humor Writing contest, sprinkles his talks with lightheartedness. “But that’s not my main cash crop,” he says. “I’m not a standup comedian. I see humor as a means to an end. When people laugh, they relax. When they relax, they listen. When they listen, there’s a better chance that they’ll take to heart something serious I say. That said, I always sense that every conference or luncheon or dinner has enough drudgery that if I can inspire someone and make them laugh in the meantime, all the better.”



❦ Filled with heart and hope


What inspires people more than anything, Welch says, is examples of inspiration. “When I tell them the story of Frances Slanger, it resonates with people who think they’re ‘nobodies,’ ” They think: Hey, if she could make a difference in the world, so can I. And that bodes well for hospitals, clinics, any medical establishment that needs people showing up each day inspired to work hard and caring about both patients and the company.”


Note: This is a speaker whose material is moving enough to have been included in 15 inspirational books, including seven in the Chicken Soup series.