The value of the National Speakers Association (NSA) Conventions is found in small group workshops and one-on-one meetings as much as in the main sessions.

The day began for me with a late breakfast meeting with my mentor from last year’s convention in Atlanta. Thea Lobell has earned her Ph.D. in counseling since we met last. She spent a month traveling in Japan to celebrate and is now ready to launch her new career outside academia. We discussed cultural differences that were apparent to her traveling in Japan (where a single woman is treated with cautious respect and is overwhelmed by random acts of kindness from strangers) and the street-smarts needed to survive in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Then it was on to my first group meeting.

The Diversity and International PEG

The NSA has a number of Professional Expert Groups (PEGs). Diversity and International is for folks with a passion for speaking internationally and an interest in seeing the world beyond the myopic perspective of their own culture.

Mary Francis Winters

A simple role play – a mimed interaction between a man and a woman with her head bowed – challenged us to examine cultural stereotypes. What did we see? Subservience? Looking through a different cultural lens might show us a world where a person only makes eye contact with a stranger when they want to steal a look into a soul. How would that data point influence your evaluation of the next Asian job candidate? What did we really see?

Mary Francis shared five cultural axioms.

1. Shed US-centric thinking

While the world is flat, it’s not a melting pot. 95% of the world’s population lives outside the USA.

2. Understand the impact of worldwide workforce trends

Mandarin in the world’s most common language. 73% of the working population of the world comes from outside North America, which supplies a mere 3%. Do all multinational company HR departments acknowledge this in their communication?

3. Cross-cultural competency is a requirement

Recommended: take Milton Bennett’s Intercultural Development Inventory as a valid measure of intercultural sensitivity. Ethnocentric people see the world from their own perspective (My country right or wrong). Ethno-relative people know they cannot fully comprehend those from other cultures and are open to learning more. Most of us have achieved the mid-point state of minimizing cultural differences. The hallmark of the truly culturally competent is to look beyond the superficial comfort of seeing similarities in all people (All God’s children…) to value real differences between people.

4. Adopt a new language to honor cultural differences

Discussions about diversity in the USA revolve around representation. This is not always effective for corporations with global operations. Other countries are baffled by the U.S. preoccupation with creating inclusive workplaces. Values are different across the world. Honor that.

5. Understand issues from a global perspective

Mergers and acquisitions, back office workers in Bangalore and contract manufacturers in China — the modern corporation requires culturally aware global managers. Seeing Bangalore as an extension of Bemiji won’t cut it.

Recommended reading:

Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, Charles Hampden-Turner.

Frank Furness

Frank travels the world and is proud of it.

Frank is a powerhouse on the International speaking scene. A native South African now resident in near the M1 Watford Gap Services, he’s fully integrated into cultures as diverse as Dublin, Dubai and Denpasar. Here’s a man who never met a five-star hotel he didn’t like. His infectious enthusiasm is at a level befitting a sales and motivational speaker.

Frank assures us that we can conquer the world as professional speakers. Just don’t show them the sole of your shoe in Arabia, or ask the Brits to make fools of themselves with sales training techniques that wow them in Wyoming.

After a brief hallway meeting with NSA/NC’s Scott Q. Marcus and Michael Holland it was on to the next small group workshop.

The Chapter Leadership Session

A classic brainstorming session led by Marsha Reynolds.

Teams considered a variety of topics that help manage and grow the different chapters around the country. Some of the keepers I noted:

• Record audio of visiting speakers and podcast via subscription on the web
• Use back-end software such as Constant Contact and Vision Gate Portal to manage newsletters and mailings
• Show videos from the Convention at local meetings for those who were not able to attend
• Include a summary of the best of each meeting under a “Here’s what you missed” banner — or, perhaps, a link to someone crazy enough the blog each and every meeting 🙂