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)

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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)

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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.

Nan Amish spoke this weekend at the NSA Northern California Pro-Track seminar on Marketing for Speakers, Trainers and Consultants. As a professional speaker, she takes a systematic approach to bringing her products and services to her customers, focusing on the market segments most likely to benefit from her services, which are both willing and able to pay for them.

In this brief extract from a full day seminar, Nan discusses various aspects of self-promotion for speakers, including the need for collateral tools such as Web Sites and One Sheets, the role of Advertising and PR as well as Sales. She concludes by discussing the value of good old fashioned print media such as the humble postcard in reaching potential clients.

To listen, click on the the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:18 — 1.9MB)

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American Rhetoric is a wonderful resource for speechwriters and public speakers. This ‘online speech bank’ contains a library of over 5,000 speeches on video, audio and transcript. The cornucopia of speeches includes everyone from Cate Blanchett (as Elizabeth I) unifying the Church of England in the 16th Century to Barack Obama unifying the Democratic Party in the 21st Century.

In addition to speeches from politics, religion, the movies and more, other treats on the site include scholarly definitions of rhetoric, like this from Gerard A. Hauser:

Rhetoric is an instrumental use of language. One person engages another person in an exchange of symbols to accomplish some goal. It is not communication for communication’s sake. Rhetoric is communication that attempts to coordinate social action. For this reason, rhetorical communication is explicitly pragmatic. Its goal is to influence human choices on specific matters that require immediate attention.

What is your favorite speech on the site, and why?

I’m ploughing through an excellent book on Britain in the 1950’s. Having It So Goodby Peter Hennessy chronicles the decade I arrived on the scene in the UK. There’s wonderfully detailed stories about coal fires; the Suez Crisis; early television and more. A unique cast of characters parade across the pages with names like Mountstuart Elphinstone; Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (known to the Welsh as Dai Bananas); Meta Strachan; Glubb Pasha; Walter Monckton and, last but not least, Supermac – the British Prime Minister Sir Harold Macmillan.

Macmillan attributed his superior public speaking skills to decades of practice in the House of Commons and acknowledges the role of a particular mentor. David Lloyd George had been Prime Minister during the First World War. In 1924 he came to Macmillan and congratulated him on his first speech in Parliament, but advised him ‘you have no idea how to make a speech’. The great orator offered the following advice:

Never say more than one thing. Yours was an essay, a good essay, but with a large number of separate points. Just say one thing; when you are a Minister two things, and when you a Prime Minister winding up a debate perhaps three…Of course you wrap it up in different ways. You say it over and over again with different emphasis and different illustrations. You say it forcefully, regretfully, even perhaps threateningly; but it is a single clear point…there must be continual variation; slow solemn phrases, quick, witty amusing passages…Finally, don’t forget the value of the pause.

Having It So Good p. 567

Thanks to a comment by The Friendly Ghost I’ve been made aware of the current series running in The Guardian Newspaper in the UK on Great Speeches of the 20th Century. The newspaper is doing more than merely reprinting the speech text:

Each day for two weeks you can collect a free booklet containing a historic address and the Guardian’s coverage of the speech from the time. The speeches are introduced by prominent figures ranging from FW de Klerk on Nelson Mandela’s statement to the Rivonia trial to Mikhail Gorbachev on Nikita Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin. Complete your collection with a CD featuring extracts from 10 great speeches free with the Guardian on Saturday May 5.

The series kicked off with Churchill’s We Shall Fight on the Beaches; moved on to JFK’s Ask Not what Your Country Can Do For You and covers the following list:

• Nelson Mandela An ideal for which I am prepared to die April 20 1964
• Harold Macmillan The wind of change February 3 1960
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt The only thing we have to fear is fear itself March 4 1933
• Nikita Khrushchev The cult of the individual February 25 1956
• Emmeline Pankhurst Freedom or death November 3 1913
• Martin Luther King I have a dream August 28 1963
• Charles de Gaulle The flame of French resistance June 1940
• Margaret Thatcher The lady’s not for turning October 10 1980
• Jawaharlal Nehru A tryst with destiny August 14 1947
• Virginia Woolf A room of one’s own 1928
• Aneurin Bevan We have to act up to different standards December 5 1956
• Earl Spencer The most hunted person of a modern age September 6 1997

I’m planning to bookmark the speeches and the debate around them for future reference, as well as asking my Dad to pick up a copy of Saturday’s Guardian and send over a copy of the CD.

Back on March 30 I entered a Toastmasters Speech Contest in Silicon Valley which was held at SAP. I gave this speech on my first months in the US in the mid-1970’s, when I arrived as a graduate student to study sociology at Tufts University. Every word is true, describing things that actually happened to me.

I won the contest and and went on to the next level. Unfortunately I had added some killer phrases and a compelling conclusion while forgetting to do a word-count or rehearse with a stop-watch. I went over the 7:30 maximum allowed time by a few seconds and was disqualified.

Still, it was ton of fun. An adrenalin rush. Every speechwriter owes it to their clients to stand on the podium from time-to-time. Experience an audience first-hand. Otherwise, you’re like a celibate writing a sex-manual. You might describe the position accurately, but until you assume it yourself you don’t know Jack.

Anyone starting out in the speaking business faces the challenge of finding people willing to pay for their services.

Carolyn Millet created a successful speaking business from scratch 12 years ago when she noticed some High School graduates who lacked social graces and decided to do something about it. Her Junior Manners Cotillion now serves the San Francisco Bay Area and helps young people acquire the social skills that will make their transition into adult society an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Click on the podcast link below to hear Carolyn’s frank and humorous description about how she started out. Marvel at the commitment and determination with which she undertook the challenge of starting a successful speaking business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:37 — 2.6MB)

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Speaker Bureaus are an important way for Professional Speakers to market their services.

Michael Soon Lee, CSP, spoke to the Pro-Track meeting last Saturday about the advantages and disadvantages of registering with a Speaker’s Bureau. These Bureaus come in all sizes – from those that deal with the famous to those that will work with the speaker who is starting out.

Michael used to manage a Speaker Bureau. Click on the podcast below to hear him share some of his insights and experience.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:14 — 1.5MB)

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