Why I Love This Job

Dewitt's photos from Paris. Boy, do I love this job.

After mentioning Dewitt Jones '  chance meeting with Keynote Agent Kaaren Cheney in Paris, he and his office (thanks, Monique!) were kind enough to send me some photographs.  It turns out that he was there for a photographic seminar, and had some pictures from various Paris trips that he could share with us.  I'll let the images speak for themselves:


If anyone will be at the TEDx program in San Jose on October 8th, Dewitt Jones is on the speaker lineup.  I, personally, can't wait.

Ice Cream with Dewitt Jones in Paris

And now a note about one of Keynote's agents, Kaaren Cheney, and her glamorous vacation life.  And with this story comes the realization that speakers who travel globally have one of the best, and worst, jobs in the world. 

Kaaren has traveled around the world on her various vacations over the years she's been at Keynote - she's the kind of person who is usually willing to jump in and try something new. Her most recent jaunt included two weeks in Paris - world capital of the glamor and beauty that can come with city life at its finest. Her travels have included the more traditional sightseeing vacation, like London, and the less traditional, like Kenya. Up next on her wishlist is Morocco.  The handsome gentleman next to her is her son. 

I suppose with all the speakers we know here at Keynote, and how often they travel, I shouldn't be surprised at this story.  Well, on said trip to Paris, Kaaren ran into Keynote Speaker, professional photographer, and National Geographic mainstay Dewitt Jones, completely unexpectedly. 

Let's step back and set the scene.  Kaaren was out and about in the city one evening, trying to find a particularly good ice cream spot she'd heard was on the Ile Saint-Louis. 

Picture a dark, quiet, slightly spooky evening street.  If you were walking alone, you might almost imagine Tom Cruise in full vampire mode slipping out of a dark alleyway nearby, perhaps with movie cameras following behind them...wait, is that a bad thing or a good thing?  Well, anyway, there you are, in search of ice cream and perhaps the opportunity to practice your high school French on an actual Parisian, and instead you find....Dewitt Jones.  I suppose of all the people who might appreciate the beauty of Paris, Dewitt would definitely be one of them.

Kaaren knew Dewitt right at first sight.  What a treat, to meet a treasured colleague randomly on a street corner, half a world away from home.  The two of them have been business colleagues and friends for years - Kaaren has booked him at least a dozen times, and there are some fabulous DeWitt photos up in Kaaren's office.  We love Dewitt, who always does a great job, and whose captivating visuals overwhelm and astound the audience in a way few other speakers can.

And Dewitt introduced us, many years ago to his brother, also a Keynote speaker, the equally impressive Terry Jones.  Who of course is the founder (warning: non-coincidence coming) of Travelocity.  Which of course Kaaren uses when she plans her trips. 

Considering how populous our planet is, or even considering how many ice cream shops there are in any given city on the globe, the odds of running into any one particular person are, well, astronomical.

And yet this isn't the first time a Keynote staff member has run into a speaker in a foreign country.  My favorite of such stories takes place in sparsely populated New Zealand.

Years ago, a former Keynote agent was on her honeymoon in New Zealand.  Well, she was in a bar, where someone on their honeymoon might reasonably be found, when she thought she spotted a familiar face in the crowd...and sure enough, it was Keynote Speaker and hilarious comedienne Judy Carter. (No word on why Judy was in a bar...but we didn't ask.  I'm sure she was on vacation too.) 

And actually, said Keynote agent made a stopover while in New Zealand to see Mount Everest and Seven Summits legend and record-setting explorer Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first person to successfully climb Mount Everest.  Peter Hillary is something of a celebrity in New Zealand (His dad Sir Edmund can be found on some of NZ's currency, just like, say, the Queen of England) and he's done us the honor of visiting our offices while in town, so she could hardly go to New Zealand and not stop in to say hello.

I've shared an airplane, or a restaurant, and once a music concert, with folks I recognize as Keynote Speakers, and it's always nice to find a familiar face in the crowd. Of course I know who they are, but they don't necessarily know me; I'm not the famous one.  If I introduce myself, they might remember my name, or they might just try to be polite and pretend that they do, because that is often what happens to famous people in general. 

And in particular it happens to people who spend their lives speaking in front of large audiences.  The audience members feel like they've made a new friend, but of course the speaker hasn't actually met them individually.

But the real reason we run into speakers so often is because of how much they travel.  Which is way more than the average person.  And sometimes even more often than the average famous person.  Some speakers are on the road, away from home and family, over 300 days of the year.  And while some of these trips might be to Paris or Madrid, Miami or New York, Cairo or even Morocco, some of them are...well, I won't name names, but not all destinations are quite so glamorous.

Wow.  Not only do you have to be very good at avoiding jet lag, you also have to be germ-resistant, healthy, flexible on your sleep hours, and have a great attitude.  And you must have the rare ability to get quality rest while on a plane.  And have very sturdy luggage with wheels.  And know how to treat flight attendants with respect.

We regular folk think travel is a challenge - I can't imagine doing it almost every day.  Sense of humor mandatory.

We, and our clients, expect speakers to show up at speaking engagements as 100% of their best selves.  And if they've just gotten off a red-eye flight, or spent hours waiting through security lines, that can be a real challenge.  Sure, exotic and beautiful destinations can come with the job, but they're hard to enjoy when you have to arrive and leave within 24 hours to get to your next engagement.

So for Dewitt, Terry, Judy, Peter, and everyone else whom we ask to travel to far-flung places, to everyone who has to travel way more than perhaps they'd like:  Thanks.  We appreciate it.  You're made of tougher stuff than I am, that's for sure.