My 14-year-old son, Neil, accompanied me to NSA and attended the Youth Leadership Conference. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my colleague from Sun Microsystems, Mark Ivey, who first persuaded me join NSA and told me how much his kids had enjoyed the Youth Leadership event.

I sat down with the Chair of the event Sunjay Nath to hear the story of the Youth Leadership Conference.

Next year in New York the leader will be Rory Vaden. If you have a child aged between 10 and 16 you owe it to them to check out what Sunjay says by clicking on the podcast icon below. Neil is already booking his ticket to Times Square.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:01 — 1.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

After hearing from Ian Percy I decided to ask around to see what conference attendees thought of the ‘disruptions’ he had set out to achieve. Were they able to deal with issues they don’t agree with?

Jenny de St. Georges is a fellow member of the NSA Northern California chapter. She’s a long-term member of NSA and has attended many past conferences. She found the majority of first-time conference attendees have been disappointed by Ian Percy’s Agenda. Her extensive network of contacts with International attendees were frankly confused by the event.

She makes an impassioned plea for ‘Speakers speaking to speakers’ in future events.

To hear Jenny, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:18 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

In the final hours of the 2007 NSA Conference I sought out the person responsible for the Agenda – Ian Percy, CSP, CPAE.

This conference has been seen by more than a few as a radical departure from past NSA Conferences. Heated discussions took place in the hallways over everything from the agnostic tone of Randy Gage’s speech on Prosperity Consciousness to the tone of the five minute “Om” chant, and, as was humorously observed, the glazed-over tones of the NSA Youth singing in praise of Afghanistan’s largest cash-crop, the tall Poppy.

So I asked Ian: What have people been saying to you about this year’s conference?

To hear what he says, you know what you need to do. That’s right – click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:12 — 752.0KB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

The value of large conferences like this year’s NSA Convention in San Diego is as much in chance conversations over lunch as in listening to presentations from the podium. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you meet in the hallways.”

I was delighted meet Rebecca Staton-Reinstein over lunch on Thursday. Working as a speechwriter at Hewlett-Packard, I hear stuff all the time about the vision and strategy of large organizations. Technology companies, by their very nature, tend to look to the future and speak in terms of innovation, R&D and the new, new thing. So I was surprised to hear Rebecca explain company strategy in historical terms. Imagine, an American with sense enough to try and understand the present in terms of the past!

Her current project involves interviewing CEO’s about their strategic vision and how this is translated into reality. Her research was stimulated by her understanding of the strategic vision of the 18th Century framers of the US Constitution. She talks to captains of industry about the ways they employ this vision in running their 21st Century businesses.

If you like what you hear in the podcast (click the icon below) then be sure to visit Rebecca’s website and check back when her book is published later this year.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:31 — 1.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Immediately after talking with Fripp, I had a brief conversation with Las Vegas resident, NSA member, inspirational speaker and author Judi Moreo.

Her most recent book You Are More Than Enough: Every Woman’s Guide To Purpose, Passion & Power is in it’s second edition within two months. In this powerful book, Judi shares ideas and techniques which clarified her path and made easier her journey to becoming the person she knew she could be.

To hear Judi talk about the process she used to write the book as well as her views on the conference, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:53 — 911.4KB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

One of the joys of a Conference like the NSA meeting is the serendipity of chance encounters. I lucked out after lunch when I met Patricia Fripp, doyenne and past-President of the National Speakers Association. She invited me to sit up front at the same table with the past-NSA presidents. We heard a keynote by Ross Schafer which made a huge impact on the audience.

Fripp is one of the best speech coaches in the country. Her website has a great collection of free articles sure to be of interest to every business or professional speaker.

Hear Fripp’s unique take on the Conference by clicking on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:22 — 1,022.6KB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

I was introduced to Holly Stiel by Barry Wishner of the NSA Northern California Chapter.

Holly is known as the World’s Greatest Concierge. She offers superior customer service training that works for a wide variety of clients, from major hotel chains to Nordstrom, Hewlett-Packard and numerous state and local tourist boards. She is probably the only conference attendee who owns a forest in Gualala.

She can be reached via her website.

To listen to the interview click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:04 — 484.5KB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Continuing the series of happenstance podcasts from the National Speakers Association 2007 Conference in San Diego, I sat down with Helice “Sparky” Bridges who told me about her amazing blue ribbon campaign ‘Who I Am Makes a Difference’. This campaign involves an incredible 26 million school children around the globe.

Helice is the winner of the 2005 Gandhi Nonviolence Award and the author of the book by that title which is filled with heartwarming true stories that reflect the need for acknowledgement, love and gratitude by children everywhere. Something as simple as the blue ribbon acknowledgement process has saved more lives than we’ll most likely ever know. Being pinned with a blue ribbon often is the most encouraging experience some kids will ever encounter.

In this interview Helice discusses her vision for the Blue Ribbon campaign and some of the ways that leaders in churches, schools, businesses and neighborhood organizations can get involved. More details are on the blueribbons website and Helice can be contacted at 760-753-0963.

To listen to the interview click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:52 — 1.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

In the first of a series of podcasts with attendees at the 2007 NSA Convention in San Diego, I sat next to Rebecca Dunbar at Tuesday’s lunch.

Rebecca is the author of the book Mariah Jennings: The Battle.

In this interview she talks about the book, which is subtitled ‘Too holy for the corporation; not holy enough for the church’. She describes how she came to write the book as a result of combining her job in corporate America and her experiences as a Christian. The book teaches timely lessons for modern corporate ethics.

Rebecca is a first-time NSA Convention attendee and talks about her experience of the conference to date.

To listen, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:27 — 1.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

It’s that time of year again. I’ll be attending the 2007 National Speakers Convention in San Diego from July 9 – 12. Over 1,500 professional speakers, meeting planners, speechwriters, seminar leaders and assorted folks will be at the event.

Unlike the comprehensive written convention reports I filed in 2006 from Orlando, this year I’m trying something new by way of Convention coverage. I’ll be roaming the halls and hanging out in the bar with my portable recorder and posting a series of Podcasts of ‘the convention unplugged’. I won’t be recording in the main sessions since the good people at Softconference provide a full set of audio for sale from the scheduled events. However, I hope to interview some interesting speakers and post news and views you might not hear in the official sessions.

If you plan to be in San Diego leave me a comment below and we can meet up and do an interview.