#PerformanceFest keynote speaker Richard Tyler on losing his virginity…

Reading time: 6 minutes

…and flirting with other high performance opportunities

In February of this year, I am proud to announce that I lost my virginity. Yeah, you heard it here first. I had never done it before. Up to this point, it hadn’t really interested me. It always felt like it was a lot of hullabaloo – a wad of money needed to invest in something that wouldn’t really capture my attention or imagination. My fiancé and I decided to do it and make it a big one. We thought that for our first time, we really ought to do it somewhere special, so we opted to share our ‘first time’ with another 5,000 people at The Royal Albert Hall. It was an insanely brilliant night. We hope to do it again sometime…

You have seen Cirque du Soleil, right? If you haven’t, I would encourage you to lose your virginity with the Cirque tribe too. Just like we did!

Cirque du Soleil know exactly what it means to show up, step up and deliver consistently extraordinary performances. They nail it. Every. Single. Day.

Standout moments

There was a stand out moment where I had a massive learning orgasm; one female performer was a master of the diabolo. Her agility and precision were simply breathtaking. And then….she dropped it. Yes, right there. 5000 people fixated on her every move and she dropped it.

Fortunately, Cirque understand that if you want to play at your edge and push to be the very best, you’re going to drop stuff. They have people on standby ready to toss in another diablo. So, did we feel short changed? No. Disappointed? No. Maybe the illusion was broken just a little? Nope.

She had taken us right to the very edge of possibility in order to create something extraordinary and had made one tiny error en-route, but she had turned it around and completed the trick.

You’re going to get your arse kicked

How I see it is this; if you want to play in the arena, you are going to get your arse kicked and sometimes screw up. If you don’t want that, don’t play in the arena. Create something that is magnolia, beige and be just ‘good enough’. That way you can ensure you have an audience that are neither disappointed or (they expect to be) wowed.

Why #PerformanceFest?

On September 9th 2016, Performance Fest will be unleashed. The day is going to be an orgy of ideas, fun, techniques, immersive experiences, beer, good food, new thinking and the offer of a revolutionary lens for leaders to look through. I see, day in and day out, that businesses are desperate to understand how they can transform their leaders, their teams, their audience experience and their organisations.

I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry to learn from the best. I want to know how others extraordinary performance and I’ll pick and choose the elements that will compliment mine to help me on my own adventure. I know that I am going to learn a massive amount from the day. I’ll leave feeling full up and ready to take new action.

If you are flirting with the notion of playing in the arena, Performance Fest will be the doorway you need to step through. If you are already in the arena, it is imperative that you give yourself a jolt, to continue to raise your game.

Are you ready to lose your Performance Fest virginity?

I am. See you there!

Join Richard Tyler for his keynote session at #PerformanceFest – grab your tickets and more information on PerformanceFest 2016 here and join companies like Facebook, American Express, NFU Mutual and Virgin Media at our unique event.