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Awakening the Hidden “Risk Giant” in You – Keynote with ISACA

By June 11, 2015August 10th, 2020No Comments
Ira Koretsky and Bhavest Bhagat after their keynote to ISACA. Standing side-by-side, smiling, with title slide in the background

Bhavesh Bhagat from Confident Governance, and I co-presented a keynote presentation at the annual ISACA DC conference. ISACA is an association of IT, Audit, Security & Risk Management, and Cyber professionals.  Its roots go back to 1967. More information on ISACA below.

I met Bhavesh at an Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) two-day training event where I was presenting. My program topics included the elevator pitch/value proposition, public speaking, LinkedIn/social media, messaging, and media relations.

After the NVTC event, Bhavesh invited me to co-present with him at the ISACA conference. Over the coming months, we created a different kind of “technology” presentation titled, “Awakening the Hidden ‘Risk Giant’ in You.” Bhavesh wanted it to be very different from the typical data-driven technology-type presentations. He wanted us to shake up the status quo.

And I do mean different. It had a lot of multi-media and was heavy on business stories, something not typical of a technology centered presentation, and not typical at the ISACA events. The three topic points included 1 Musician’s Mindset; 2 Make Me care; and 3 Awaken Your Giant.

AWAKEN THE HIDDEN RISK GIANT IN YOU

Bhavesh…

– kicked the keynote off sharing a personal story of his time at The Grand Bretgane in Athens, Greece
– talked about the absence of Pluto from our solar system
– shared his outlook on life as a musician and how it positively affects his views as an ISACA professional
– underscored the importance of each risk professional to harness creativity; leverage innovation; and maximize agility
– showed a video clip from Daito Manabe’s Elevenplay Dance Performance with Drones (yes, drones)

I…

– shared a personal story about my time in Egypt at the famous Sphinx and how that relates to brand and personal recognition
– showed a video clip that epitomized what not do in a presentation (the famous Turbo Encabulator)
– emphasized the importance of “changing the conversation” — change your messages and personal and organizational stories to effect change in your organization
– encouraged participants to actively expand his/her network of influence with both traditional and non-traditional professionals in leadership, IT, security, finance, HR, and communication

Photography Sources:  © Copyright 2015, The Chief Storyteller®, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

funny picture of an awning with information then security then restrooms such that put together it becomes information security restrooms

After having lunch one day, as we were walking back to the parking garage, we both noticed the humor in the wording in the sign/awning. Of course, the folks who made the sign intended it to be three separate concepts. Put together, Information Security Restrooms, was a perfect opportunity for us to bring a little humor to our keynote full of information security and risk professionals.

ABOUT ISACA

From the ISACA website: “Today, ISACA’s constituency—more than 140,000 strong worldwide—is characterized by its diversity. Constituents live and work in more than 180 countries and cover a variety of professional IT-related positions—to name just a few, IS auditor, consultant, educator, IS security professional, regulator, chief information officer and internal auditor. Some are new to the field, others are at middle management levels and still others are in the most senior ranks. They work in nearly all industry categories, including financial and banking, public accounting, government and the public sector, utilities and manufacturing. This diversity enables members to learn from each other, and exchange widely divergent viewpoints on a variety of professional topics. It has long been considered one of ISACA’s strengths.”

Photography Source: © Copyright 2020, The Chief Storyteller®, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Ira Koretsky

Ira Koretsky has built The Chief Storyteller® into one of the most recognized names in communication, especially business storytelling. He has delivered over 500 keynote presentations and workshops in nearly a dozen countries, in more than one hundred cities, across 30 plus industries. His specialties are simplifying the complex and communicating when the stakes are high. He is also an adjunct professor in public speaking and storytelling at the University of Maryland's Business School. With over 25 years of experience, he is a sought-after storytelling coach, global speaker, trainer, consultant, communication coach, and public speaking coach.