Keynote speaking and one hit wonders

One of the weird things about being a paid keynote speaker is after a while you often feel a bit like a band with 3 successful albums and a new exploratory one, you think is better, but is unproven and new. Maybe it's smarter but far less loved.

Do I need to do "Come on Aileen again"?

To you, going to events with slides you've shared before, with jokes you know people love, with insights you came up with and know people won't find new, seems lazy, seems tired and a bit lackluster. Surely you're paid to deliver the best and latest?

But realistically, people booked you for what they've seen before. They are reassured by the stuff you've practiced many times. They want you to say the Uber, Airbnb, Alibaba quote, they want the tried and tested, they want well delivered, timeless stuff. The tweets that went viral, the pithy simplistic explanations.

It's a constant battle.

It just feels wrong to deliver stuff more than a few times, seems lazy to not make every presentation almost entirely new, but nobody remembers what you've said before and people only care if it's good, and useful, not groundbreaking.