Posts Tagged ‘General Russell Honore’

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

Speaker Recovery Options in First Tier Markets

Posted: June 30, 2014 in Meeting Planner
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One nightmare scenario and almost rite of passage for any meeting planner is dealing with a last minute speaker cancellation. No matter how many precautions are taken, disruptions happen (e.g. acts of god, sickness, family issues, airline strike, etc.). You have experienced them all and so have we but the show must go on.

While this is a situation nobody wants to go through, it is one of the value propositions of working with a dependable, knowledgeable and experienced speaker bureau. They can explore and find a solution to the challenge while you continue juggling the many other responsibilities that come with your role.

One solution we generally turn to (along with looking at speakers we may already have “booked” in the meeting city or surrounding area during that time) is finding reliable and proven speaker options who live in the area and can arrive at a venue within minutes.

Here are a few options to consider for some of the major meeting markets:

Las Vegas

Chef Jeff Henderson – Celebrity Chef and Inspiration behind NYT best-selling memoir Cooked

JB Bernstein – Sports Marketing Expert and Inspiration behind Disney’s major motion picture Million Dollar Arm 

Tim Sanders – Former Yahoo executive, and NYT best-selling business author

Orlando

Jim Knight – Former Senior Director of Training & Development for Hard Rock International

Pat Williams – Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic

Dennis Snow – Former Disney Leadership Executive, Customer Service Expert

New Orleans

General Russel Honoré – Commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, Leadership & Preparedness Expert

Archie Manning – NFL Icon and father Super Bowl Winning Quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning

Peter Ricchiuti – Finance Professor and nationally sought after Economic Expert

Phoenix & Scottsdale

Captain Mark Kelly – beloved husband of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, retired NASA astronaut and naval aviator

Larry Winget – The Pitbull of Personal Development

Dr. Barry Asmus – Economic Policy Expert

San Francisco

Alison Levine – NYT best-selling author of On The Edge, leadership expert and extreme adventurer

Peter Leyden – Future Trends & Technologies Expert

Jeff Ma – Inspiration behind Ben Mezrich’s best-selling book Bringing Down The House, Expert on Data and Analytics

Jason Jennings – Business Leadership & Productivity Expert, NYT best-selling business author

 

If you are interested, we would be happy to provide you with a list of “local” speakers in the first, second and even third tier meeting destinations.

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin