Deliver Your Conference Speech in Style

A CBI conference speech by the leader of the Conservatives Party, Kemi Badenoch, might not come as a notable event to many people. But the resounding silence that met her words at the November conference in London was notable. Because if this was your conference speech, you'd be very concerned by the evident silence and tacit hostility.

But why? Well, the suspicion has to be that the audience at the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), is largely addicted to Keynesian economics. Because why else would you greet the words of the leader of his Majesty's Opposition with such silence? What is it about small government that the Confederation of British Industry does not like? What is it about minimising the weight of government regulation that they don't care for?

So the suggestion has to be that the CBI is largely representative of the public sector, the NHS, and all of the various hangers-on who make their living from government, big government, large government and all their contracts. More government is what drives their business plans. And certainly looking at the speakers on the conference agenda, you might well consider that's what's going on here.

Pause in Your Conference Speech

And the Kemi Badenoch CBI Conference speech? Well, she delivered it firmly and assuredly. There were some excellent pauses in this 17-minute speech and we also heard some good repetition.

We need to get Britain working again.

That is how we pay for our NHS.

That is how we fund defence.

That is how we look after the vulnerable.

Excellent. And we also heard a good "not-this-but-that statement".

This is not industrial relations, this is industrial intimidation.

Additionally we encountered an excellent and solid position taker.

Now, some will say that this is all exaggerated. They will say “it is about fairness”, and that somehow Britain can absorb all of this without a cost.

You know that is not true. It will cost businesses £5 billion.

Kemi also enlivened things with a touch of metaphor, typically a feature of political public speaking.

Fewer and fewer people are working, to support more and more people out of work and living on welfare.

The rider is getting heavier than the horse.

Whilst metaphors feature heavily in many speeches of this ilk, they should also feature in your conference speech. They work because they are effective.

 There was some excellent technique in this speech that you can mimic in your conference speech. Will it prove a memorable CBI conference speech? Perhaps, if and when the economy really starts to get much worse.

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