Quick: What do San Francisco, New York and Limerick all have in common?

Answer: Smoking has been banished from the bars in California, New York and Ireland (yes, even Ireland!). So you can enjoy a smoke-free atmosphere when you go out for a drink. However, in Washington DC you’ll find the smoke-filled room is alive and well.

On my first evening in The Nation’s Capitol I was driven away from a couple of places where I went to slake my thirst by the unwelcome smoke. I even saw a couple of Young Republicans puffing on a stogie. Since all the jokes about Republican’s putting cigars to their proper use are a little tired by now I better report on the proceedings of Day1 of the Ragan Speechwriter’s Conference.

The pre-sessions kicked off today. About 30 experienced speechwriters, some with 20+ years experience, attended Tack Cornelius’s session Flying lobsters and a muse of fire: Practical tips for veteran speechwriters.

Tack has one of those improbable Southern names right out of a John Grisham novel which the British find fascinating. He writes from Gainesville, Georgia and has over three decades of experience in journalism, government and business. His clients include former Kentucky Gov. Martha Layne Collins and two Bellsouth CEO’s: John Clendenin and Duane Ackerman.

The intriguing title of his afternoon class refers to the story of UPS keeping lobsters on ice in their Louisville, KY hub to ‘freshen ’em up before they are whipped off to the four corners of the globe as air freight. An insight to make even the most boring lecture on the modern supply chain come alive for an audience. The Muse of Fire references the opening lines of Henry V – recommended by Tack as a sterling example of the use of sound in speech – as is Macbeth and the poetry of Edgar Lee Masters.

Tack believes in the salutatory effect of writing a speech out in full – the text being a point of departure for key insights that make the spoken word come alive. Other tips include:

Quirky suggestions (from Tack and the audience):

Recommended reading:

Off to Washington DC on Tuesday for the 2006 Lawrance Ragan Speechwriters Conference. My first time with the heavy-hitters in the world of speechwriting. Seems appropriate that we’ll be down the road from the West Wing of the White House.

Michael Lee suggested that, since professional speakers can only charge fees that their self-esteem can bear, ProTrackers consider taking a confidence test.

I’ve just spent 15 minutes in an attempt to find a ‘Confidence’ test on this site. In my opinion, there isn’t one.

Here’s what I *did* find:

[1] The site required you create a user account at no charge.
[2] You are then presented with different categories for tests (relationships, personality, health, career). Many require you purchase a number of ‘Credits’ at a cost of $2.95 each (most tests are 2-7 credits) or pay a $14 flat monthly fee. However, there are ‘Abridged’ tests available at no charge.
[3] There are 225 tests in total. A search for ‘confidence’ did not return results, but I did find an abridged (i.e Free) ‘Assertiveness test’. This asked a list of rather obvious questions such as:

After answering 10 questions I was given a score of 78 out of 100 and a brief reading:

Ho hum….

Be interested to hear from anyone who ponies up $$ for the full monty and how the test results impress you – it maybe that, as with many things in life, you get what you pay for. Or it may be that, as was said by H.L. Mencken, no web site in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of plain people.

I think I can say that with confidence.

Saturday found over 30 prospective and current members of the National Speakers Association (NSA) at the kick-off the year-long Pro Track training program: “Taking Emerging Speakers to the Next Level”.

We’ll meet once a month for a boot camp of basic training in the techniques and business of the professional speaker.

The Dean of the program is a 20-year veteran of pro-speaking: Michael Lee

Michael, a 5th generation Asian-American, was dragged kicking and screaming into his niche market: delivering seminars, training, consulting and coaching on how to sell more products and services to the multicultural market in America (mainly to Realtors and Auto salespeople).

Embodying the true spirit of NSA founder Cavett Robert, Michael is giving freely of both his time and his ‘trade secrets’ by coordinating the program every month (giving up a valuable day which he could spend at home with his family – no small matter for a guy who spends 90+ days in hotel rooms, from Racine to Rochester).

We heard from a graduate of the 2005 Pro Track training, Cynthia Beck, who is about to launch her first book — written as a direct result of the information she picked up in the program. Cynthia’s tips for success included showing up for meetings and fully participating – something she did last year, despite fighting mononucleosis and caring for a sick child!

The bulk of the first day was spent watching all 30 of us, one by one, delivered our 3 minute elevator pitch to introduce ourselves and share what we wanted out of the program. This was videotaped:

I was amazed at the range of expertise and backgrounds in the room. We had Realtors and retirees; sociologists and swim coaches; conversational theorists and Italians who conversed with gestures; the daughters of Toastmasters and the sons of Chemical Recycling Plant owners, not to mention the great-grand-daughters of former slaves (no-one confessed to being the great-grandson of former slaves owners, but Dr. Martin Luther King ‘s dream was alive in the room); workaholics and writing coaches; ex-Playboy Bunnies and ex-ski instructors (one stoked the slopes the other stroked the folks). Some lived down the road in Redwood City or San Francisco, others had driven from Sacramento and Fresno. One crossed state lines from Carson City, Nevada.

It’ll be a fascinating year getting to know these folks and be a part of the process of discovering the opportunities and overcoming the obstacles to becoming a professional speaker.

Factoids:

Notable quotes:

“Lack of income is the biggest obstacle to making the transition to full-time professional speaking”
“You can only charge what your self-esteem will bear”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
“Your niche is not a topic but an identifiable group of people who want to hear what you have to say”

I’m in a large conference room in a hotel just south of SFO with 85 National Speakers Association members about to experience “Open Space Technology” for the first time.

The meeting has just begun, and inside a large circle of chairs, the facilitator Ric Giardina is slowly walking the perimeter of the room making eye contact with each person, promising us that “whatever happens is the only thing that could happen”. This Zen-like statement is followed by others, such as “Whoever shows up are the right people” and “When it’s over it’s over”.

Luckily, these ‘technology’ behind these platitudes is quickly explained in very concrete, practical terms.

What is Open Space?

How Does Open Space Work?

This is exactly what happened on Saturday. Those who jumped to the center instantly became conveners and wrote down their topics:

The topics were posted on the wall, centered on the theme ‘Taking My Speaking Career Where I want to Go”

All part of the village marketplace of meetings about to happen, or not (if no-one chose to attend):

Ric made another few circuits of the room asking anyone thinking “why hasn’t anyone written down the issue I really want to see discussed” to get into the center and create a poster for that topic.

The results:

I spent Saturday at the NSA/NC chapter meeting. Over 85 people attended. As always, a fascinating array of people – the big wheels of Public Speaking such as Patricia Fripp and National NSA President Rick Jakle – mingled with first timers. A large number of potential members were there. They’ve signed on for the year-long Pro-Track training that starts next week. I’ll be blogging about my experience throughout the year as I attend Pro-Track and learn the secrets of the professional speaking business.

I talked with a couple of people on Saturday who completed the 2005 Pro-Track and had found that it changed their lives. One completed the book she had been meaning to write for four years. Another began holding the first training seminars that were to be the foundation of his full-time business. If Pro-Track lives up to the promises made it should be a worthwhile investment of my time (one full-day meeting per month with project work between times).

The main part of the Chapter meeting was an exploration of Open Space Technology. I’d tried to prepare for this by going online to check out the reference we were given. Maybe I’ve been in high-tech for too long – I was looking for ‘technology’ to do with virtual meetings, shared white-boards or other devices to facilitate distance learning. I could not have been more mistaken. Open Space is very much about face-to-face interaction where everyone participates to the extent they wish and must ‘prepare to be surprised’. I was certainly surprised by the experience. I’ll write about this in my next posting….