Michelle Haas is a well-known opinion maker and is often asked to appear as a geopolitical analyst on current-affairs programmes. That expertise and visibility soon led to a new question: “Could you also give a keynote about this?” That question came up not once, but again and again. It was only logical that the next step became a book.

But that book created a new dilemma. Because how do you turn a book – in which everything has been carefully and thoroughly worked out – into a keynote that offers real value, without making the book feel superfluous afterwards?

With that question, Michelle Haas came to me. And that is precisely where a remarkable journey began.

The tension every author-speaker faces

Anyone who writes a book pours months – sometimes years – of thinking, cutting, reformulating and emotion into it. Every chapter feels essential. Every insight feels valuable. And that is exactly what makes it difficult to make choices when that book suddenly has to be translated into a keynote of 30, 45 or 60 minutes.

Many authors run into the same questions:

• What do I tell, and what do I deliberately leave out?
• How do I make sure my keynote is strong in substance, without becoming a summary of my book?
• How do I keep my audience engaged and curious for more?

The answer rarely lies in more slides or more explanation, but almost always in better choices and a clear structure.

From book to storyline, not to summary

On this journey we started from one central question: What should the audience take away after this keynote?

Michelle Haas's book contains around 30 fundamental questions about geopolitics and international security. Instead of trying to tell everything, we opted for a modular storyline:

• A clear framing and context
• A selection of key questions from the book
• A closing that offers perspective, without sealing everything shut

That storyline was built so that it:

• can be used in both a long and a short keynote
• can easily be adapted to the audience or the event
• always ends -and certainly does not begin- with a natural bridge to the book

The keynote provides insight, direction and something to hold on to. The book provides depth, nuance and completeness.

Making choices requires distance

One of the most important lessons from this project is one that applies to every book author, expert and perhaps to anyone who gives a presentation:

Summarising your own story, book or expertise is often harder than writing it.

As an author you are emotionally connected to your text. Everything feels important. Everything deserves attention. That is precisely why it is valuable to work with someone who can step back from that emotion.

Alongside writing the storyline and designing the presentation, Smartpresentations acted in this project as a sounding board, filter and sparring partner:

• What is essential for this presentation / keynote?
• What belongs in the book, not on the stage?
• Where is the tension, the build-up, the rhythm?

That distance makes it possible to make choices that are better for the keynote and for what the audience can do with it afterwards.

A presentation that supports, not overpowers

Alongside the content, a strong emphasis was also placed on the visual translation. The presentation is:

• Powerful and professional
• Supportive of the story
• Clearly structured, with calm and focus

The slides do not take over the story, but reinforce it. They create space for the speaker and ensure the content sticks, without spelling everything out.

What other authors can learn from this

This project with Michelle Haas does not stand alone. It touches on a recognisable problem for many authors who are asked to speak.

A strong keynote:

• is not a summary of your book
• is not a sales pitch
• is a carefully chosen glimpse

By deliberately not telling everything, you actually increase the value of what you do share. And you keep the book relevant, necessary and appealing.

To conclude

Writing a book is an intensive process. Creating a keynote based on that book requires at least as much care, choices and craftsmanship.

By working with people who can sharpen, structure and translate the story to the stage, something special emerges: a keynote that inspires, moves and makes people curious for more.

And that is precisely what a good book calls for.