An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Love Your Audience. They are not your enemy; they are your friends. Show them you’re there for them and put your ego on the shelf. Make them feel important, make eye contact and engage with them if it’s a small group.
At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Hansen.
Bill Hansen is a 50-plus year industry veteran who celebrates 42 years of his company Bill Hansen Luxury Catering this August. Over the last four decades, this visionary has hosted four U.S. presidents, championship Super Bowl teams, countless celebrities and athletes. He has catered events for everyone from Pope John Paul II to The Bush family, The Reagan family, Michael Jordan, Usher, Kim Kardashian and the list goes on. Widely recognized as a giant in the catering industry, Mr. Hansen caters, coordinates, trains, teaches, mentors, motivates, manages, and writes. He typically oversees 400 events a year with 40 full-time and 200 on-call employees.
Bill Hansen Catering is the exclusive caterer for Villa Woodbine, a historic and award-winning, early 20th century Mediterranean Revival estate in Coconut Grove in high demand for weddings, corporate and social events. His company is a preferred caterer to a collection of 100 unique venues from the Palm Beaches to the Florida Keys. In addition to being an in-demand speaker at catering conferences where he speaks to over 3,000 caterers a show, Bill is frequently engaged as an expert witness for foodservice and hospitality legal disputes and has worked on major cases against Costco and American Airlines.
In 2020, the catering brand merged with Lovables Catering + Kitchen and added a new dimension to Bill Hansen Catering by offering expanded culinary offerings for budget-conscious clientele. Bill Hansen Catering also acquired Eten Catering, a full-service catering and event company to expand the brand’s presence to an even larger market, specifically on large scale yachts in South Florida. Additionally, the brand merged with Alexander Event Catering and Different Look, two leading brands that have served South Florida’s wedding and special events market for more than 15 years, to receive expertise, guidance, and support from Bill Hansen and his team. The partnership brings a new standard of luxury to South Florida events as a whole.
Additionally, Bill Hansen and his team recently launched an opulent extension of the catering brand, Bill Hansen Luxe to tap into the upscale client market to produce star studded events.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up in a small town called Holland in New York with more cows than people and one redlight. They called me Honker since I played the trombone quite well. I also loved to make money, so I sold Christmas wreaths, mailing labels, and rose bushes that my dad grew for the holidays. From there I attended Cornell and graduated in 1967. I joined the Navy as an officer and managed Navy clubs and hotels until 1975, when I moved to Miami, where I worked as a food manager for Burdines (now Macy’s.)
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
In 1980 I started my own catering firm, offering food and service to the rich and famous during events. I had the opportunity to host U. S. Presidents and Pope John Paul II. In 1990 I started teaching Catering Management and began to hone my speaking skills, a passion of mine.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
While going the extra mile for a client in desperate need for a venue, I discovered Villa Woodbine, a historical home in Coconut Grove where I’ve catered since 1983 and since then thousands of couples have wed there. Bill Hansen Catering has an exclusive partnership with the venue, and it’s one of the top wedding destinations in South Florida.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
There are many mistakes and I like to call them learning experiences and go by the motto, “Every Setback is a SETUP for a COMEBACK.” A funny mistake I can recall was when I was working at Macy’s. A customer had asked for Worcestershire sauce, and she brought him a Booster Chair.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I had several mentors but Ted White, my former boss in the Navy, supported and encouraged me in my early years. He hired me in 1971 when I was near bankruptcy from a failed consulting business venture and supported me for decades.
You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
At Cornell I cut speech class on the days I was supposed to speak. When I started teaching catering management, I was so nervous that I arrived early and put all my notes on the black board as a reminder of what I was about to say. The only way to overcome your fear of speaking it is to JUST DO IT. Come prepared and remember that FACTS tell but STORIES sell.
What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?
It’s simple. Do everything with love and kindness, but still mean business. There’s too much hatred and bitterness in the world today. We need to replace it with love and kindness.
You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?
I’m acquiring other catering and hospitality businesses and growing my Bill Hansen Hospitality Group to become the leading concierge service for anyone planning a party, wedding, corporate event, quinceañera or bar mitzvah.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. I care for my team members at all my companies. I’m there to create an amazing culture where they wish to show up every day, engaged and excited. The only way you can do that is to treat your team like family and love them.
Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.
- Do at least 10,000 hours doing what you’re speaking about. It’s easy for me to talk about catering since I’ve catered at least 100,000 parties, weddings, and events in my career. I have the stories to back up my key points.
- Love Your Audience. They are not your enemy; they are your friends. Show them you’re there for them and put your ego on the shelf. Make them feel important, make eye contact and engage with them if it’s a small group.
- Keep things fun with humorous stories that your audience can relate to. People relate to stories. They don’t want to be spoken at, but to.
- Remember that there are three speeches. The one you plan to give, the one you gave, and then the one you wished you had given as you review your talk afterwards. Every time you speak you will discover minor things that you could have said and done in a better way. Continually hone your talk or talks and realize you can always deliver your next speech better than the last one.
- Move around and make eye contact with your audience. I do not like standing behind a podium on a stage. I prefer to be on the same level as the audience and walk up and down the aisles to further engagement. I like to arrive long before the audience so I can welcome them as they arrive. It helps me to get over whatever nervousness I have at the time.
As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?
Just do it. Come overly prepared. Remember your bullet points. Use PowerPoint as a reminder of where you are. The more you do it, the better you get. If you’re not nervous before you speak you will deliver a lackluster performance. I like to exercise before I speak to calm the nerves. Robin Williams used to do push-ups before he went on camera.
You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
My current passion is an inner-city faith-based non-profit. Touching Miami with Love which helps kids in Miami’s Overtown who come from poverty and distressed homes see that there’s a future for them in this world.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
I would love to have lunch with Bill Gates who I’ve actually catered for in the past but did not have time to talk to. I would ask him for business advice, connections and money to support my nonprofit, Touching Miami with Love.
Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?
@billhansenluxurycatering
Bill Hansen Catering & Events Productions
This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Bill Hansen On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
