Posts Tagged ‘127 Hours’

Speaker Recovery Options in Second Tier Markets

Posted: May 5, 2015 in Meeting Planner
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In our inaugural post “Speaker Recovery Options in First Tier Markets”, we pointed out that despite the most careful and detail-oriented preparations and planning, speakers do get sick, or have family emergencies or travel problems that can cause them cancel. The Speaker Experts strongly recommend you have a speaker recovery plan in place before traveling to your meeting. While the resources in “Second Tier Convention Markets” can be scarcer than their larger counterparts, they are out there and available to the forward-thinking event planner. Here are 3 pre-event precautionary procedures you can undertake to help deal with a last-minute speaker cancellation:

  • Mine the local universities and television networks for talent. Often you will find a well-known, local celebrity who knows their way around the speaker stage. (A local or regional speaker bureau might be worth a call as they typically have a handle on this type of talent).
  • Hire a speaker to attend your event and be on stand-by. We recently worked with a major insurance company who was concerned about the logistics of getting their speakers to an obscure location. The solution was to hire a well-known NBA broadcaster to attend the entire meeting and be there on stand-by. While his skills were never needed, his presence provided a nice insurance policy for the event planning team.
  • Have a handle on professional speakers who live in the area or are a short drive away. Below is a list of popular second tier convention cities and a selection of high impact speakers who reside nearby:
SECOND TIER CONVENTION CITIES
Mobile, AL
Fred Haise
Apollo 13 Astronaut

Mesa, AZ
Captain Mark Kelly
Commander of Space Shuttle Endeavour

Vail, CO
Aron Ralston
subject of 127 Hours

West Palm Beach,FL
Jim Knight
frmr. Director of Training at Hard Rock Int.
Mike Abrashoff
frmr. Commander of the USS Benfold

Shreveport, LA
General Russel L. Honore
Commander of Joint Task Force Katrina

Baltimore, MD
Commander Kirk Lippold
Commander of the USS Cole

Jackson, MS
General Russel L. Honore
Commander of Joint Task Force Katrina

Indianapolis, IN
Derek Daly
Author and international racing champion
Scott McKain
customer experience expert, best-selling business author
Wildwood, NJ
Stuart Varney
FOX Business News Host of Varney & Co.

Albuquerque, NM
Mike Mullane
career NASA astronaut and author

Cleveland, OH
Jim Gilmore
author and sought-after consultant

Pittsburgh, PA
Rocky Bleier
frmr. Super Bowl champion

Columbia, SC
Frank Abagnale
subject of the film Catch Me If You Can

Salt Lake City, UT
Adrian Gostick
best-selling author of The Carrot Principle

Virginia Beach, VA
You are on your own!

Milwaukee, WI
Dan Burrus
best-selling author, business strategist and technology futurist

Providence, RI
Michelle Stacy
frmr. Green Mountain Keurig President
Mike Eruzione
Captain of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team and subject of Miracle

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

These preparations can be initiated with just a few hours of internet research or by reaching out to the IASB-member speaker bureau of your choice. On a closing note, congratulations to Elaine Howard of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Her name was drawn from over 100 entries for the signed Billie Jean King tennis racquet!

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin

Ten Motion Pictures That Have Influenced the Speaking Circuit – And One To Watch

Posted: November 12, 2014 in Speaker Ideas
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Hollywood loves an underdog – but not as much as the speaking circuit! Every once in a while a movie comes along that captures the imagination of the country. These very films remind us that anything is possible, and that extraordinary accomplishments can be achieved by ordinary people. These ordinary people have been on the speaking circuit for years, delivering inspirational lessons of overcoming obstacles and achieving impossible dreams. Fredi Lajvardi is one of those speakers, and Spare Parts, starring George Lopez, is on a trajectory that could push Fredi into the spotlight. With a January 16, 2015 release date, Spare Parts is the story of veteran teacher Fredi Lajvardi (played by George Lopez) and a group of deserving high school students from Phoenix who end up defeating the reigning champion MIT robotics team in a national competition. Think Rocky meets Stand and Deliver! To get a better idea of the movie, check out this recently released trailer:

It would be a Hail Mary to suggest that “Spare Parts” will crack the following top ten film list that have influenced the speaking circuit, but the speaker experts feel it is possible:

Miracle (2004)
miraclePlayers Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig are two of
the most in-demand sports speakers of all time.
Sadly, Coach Herb Brooks passed away before the film’s release.

Apollo 13 (1995)
apollo13Jim Lovell, Gene Kranz, and Fred Haise bring
“Failure is Not an Option” culture to corporate America.

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
pursuithappynessChris Gardner breaks the cycle of poverty.

Catch Me if You Can (2002)
catchmeNow FBI consultant, Frank Abagnale is the nation’s
number one fraud and values speaker.

The Blindside (2009)
The Blind Side movie posterNFL plus Oscar equals speaking
success for the Touhy Family.

Stand and Deliver (1988)
standdeliverJamie Escalate and Edward James Olmos were two
of the educational circuit’s most popular
speakers in the 1990s.

127 Hours (2010)
Aron Ralston makes 127 hours fly by on stage.

The Rookie (2002)
rookieA physics teacher turned left-handed MLB pitcher
with a 98 MPH fast ball, Jim Morris is still
bringing the heat to the speaking stage.

Moneyball (2011)
Billy Beane, Paul DePodesta and Michael Lewis bring
baseball sabermetrics from the field to the board room.

Remember the Titans (2000)
rememberthetitansThe Speaker Experts live in Northern Virginia
and do not remember the story going the way of this
Hollywood portrayal, but Coaches Herman Boone
and Ed Yost were powerhouse speakers.

Note:  We received an overwhelming amount of suggestions and questions regarding our post on the ten top military speakers of the past 30 years and three to keep an eye on.  With the news events of the past week, the answer is “yes” – Navy Seal Robert O’Neil is one to keep an eye on!

Disclosure notice: The Speaker Experts represent Fredji Lajvardi. We have a horse in this race but we feel it is a winner!

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin

“Buy Low, Sell High”:  3 Speakers Going Up In Value

Posted: July 3, 2014 in Be In The Know
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“Buy Low, Sell High” is a term you often hear in the investment world.    In looking over my stock portfolio last week, I have come to the realization that it is a very tricky and risky outcome to achieve.

While past performance is never a guarantee of future performance in the speaker world either, there are certain indicators that that will signal a speaker fee increase.  One key indicator is an announcement and release of a major motion picture about a speaker’s life.  Over the years we have seen speakers’ fees go up dramatically when such a film is made.  A few examples are as follows:

Captain Jim Lovell and Former Flight Director Gene Kranz – Apollo 13

Captain Richard Phillips – Captain Phillips

Aron Ralston – 127 Hours

Leigh Anne Tuohy – The Blind Side

Marcus Lutrell – Lone Survivor

JB Bernstein – Million Dollar Arm

Chris Gardner – The Pursuit of Happyness

Jim Morris – The Rookie

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The key to buying low in the speaker world is to book these speakers before the film is released.  Here are three speakers who will be going up in fee in 2015:

Jeannette Walls – The Glass Castle (starring Jennifer Lawrence), based on Jeannette Walls’s memoir published in 2005 that lived for a resounding 261 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, is being brought to life by Lionsgate after seven years of practically stagnant development at Paramount.

Mark Schultz – Foxcatcher (starring Channing Tatum) is based on Mark Schultz’s autobiography detailing his and his brother’s lives as Olympic Wrestling Champions, all of which came to a grinding halt when one commits a harrowing murder. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, its set release is in November 2014.

Dr. Beck Weathers – Into Thin Air, a book written by Jon Krakauer and currently being adapted into a major motion picture, stars Josh Brolin as Dr. Beck Weathers and retells the harrowing story of one team’s ill-fated attempt at scaling Mount Everest. Backed by the production company Working Title, the film has no set release date.

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Keep an eye on these three speakers. Today’s “unknowns” are speaker superstars of tomorrow!