Type: Keynote
Pros: He is an energetic speaker who entertains the audience with fascinating stories about his life as an Olympic and professional boxer. He also tells a number of “behind the scenes” stories about his life and fights.
Ray uses a number of videos to create a visual timeline of his successes in both the Olympics and the professional boxing ring. Not only does this remind the audience of his success but these short videos serve to motivate and keep the audience engaged.
He also had a fun jump rope activity with the audience, which took place in the middle of the presentation and did a good job of keeping the energy up in the room.
Ray took questions from the audience and based on the number of questions it’s fair to say the audience was very excited to hear and talk with Ray. Ray took all of the questions and would often add a story or additional interesting points to the topic of the question.
There was also a motivational spin to the presentation that I saw. I would expect that he can do some minimal customization based on the theme of the conference, but in the end the audience is there to meet and hear about Sugar Ray Leonard.
On a fun note, we were visited by the fire marshal right before Sugar Ray’s speech. A visit by a fire marshal in the middle of an event is usually not a good sign, but as it turns out the fire marshal is a big Sugar Ray fan and asked if he could stand in the back and watch the presentation.
Cons: A younger audience may not know or remember Sugar Ray Leonard but his video highlights do a good job of telling his story.
One note: The videos files are not the best quality and should be pre-loaded into a playback device. There is no specific script as to where the videos play, Ray’s representative sits at front of house control and calls the roles. A rehearsal the day or evening prior to the presentation would be strongly recommended.
Producer’s Notes: I would strongly recommend Sugar Ray Leonard as a keynote speaker. The audience was interested and energetic throughout the presentation.