Why I Love This Job

No, but thanks for asking. Well, okay, maybe. Oh, sure, why not.

Today, I found myself pausing from my overly packed list of things I absolutely must do today, to write the following thank you note.

Hi John.  I just wanted to let you know, I appreciate so much the fact that you asked before putting me on your newsletter list. 

 

In fact I do not usually subscribe to any speaker newsletters.  As I'm sure you can guess, it's not because I don't find them of value; it's because if I read them all properly I wouldn't have any time left to talk to my clients!  I find myself unsubscribing to a newsletter which I have involuntarily received about twice a week, so it was such a refreshing and positive change that you took the time to ask.  Thank you.

 

We do appreciate you as a speaker and I look forward to doing business with you again soon.

Best wishes,

Katrina Smith

The recipient of this letter was speaker John Hersey.  Well done, John.  He is not the only who has asked recently - it happens occasionally, though I've never taken the time send a thank you note before.  

I got a particularly funny email last week from another Keynote favorite, Joel Zeff, entitled "I Hate Newsletters." It made me laugh, so I'm keeping that one. 

And me personally, I don't hate newsletters.  They're a great way to transmit information in short form. And there are some speakers who are just great writers, or particular friends of mine.  

I just like it when someone asks. 

 

Keynote sends newsletters to its clients occasionally.  Since I dislike unsolicited email so much, as many of us do, we try to be very careful about to whom, and how often, we send our marketing.  Since we do represent some speakers exclusively, we want to get the word out about them.  But we try hard to make sure we don't send the updates too often, or to anyone who doesn't want to receive them. 

Emailed documents and blogs have taken the place of the tree-eating catalogs we used to mail every year, so hopefully we can all join together in appreciating how efficient and quick these new information delivery methods are.

I hope we at Keynote are as kind and polite about our marketing as John was.  If we're not, please let us know.  You can email me at katrina@keynotespeakers.com, without even signing up as a commenter on the blog. 

And thanks again John Hersey, and Joel Zeff, and all the other polite speakers and entertainers we book and recommend, who take the time to ask.

Keith Harrell: a great loss for all who knew him

From time to time a member of our community, the world of professional speaking, passes away unexpectedly.  While death is inevitable for us all, when an individual who has made an impact in your life dies, it can shake your world for a little while. 

Keith Harrell was in the speaking business since before I came to Keynote, and thus I got to know him after he was already a successful and popular speaker.  Our agents here were all fans of Keith, whom we booked and recommended a great deal.  

Though Keith was already a successful speaker when I met him, I know he must have understood, or remembered, how beginning speakers struggle.  This must have been so, because throughout all the years I knew him he always seemed to have at least one "protege", someone whom he was helping to in their path to success, or someone he was hoping to inspire, or someone who just needed more encouragement along with practical advice.

He was known for his trademark phrase "super fantastic".  Those words would sound over the top perhaps, coming from someone else, but from Keith they were genuine. 

As someone who evaluates speakers for a living, I can spot a phony (or so I like to think, anyway) from a mile away.   And Keith Harrell was someone I respected as being absolutely genuine. 

Clients hate phony canned speakers, which was probably one of the reasons Keith was so phenomenally successful, and had such a tremendous rate of repeat bookings and long-term clients.  Almost no one wants to rebook you unless you walk your talk.  Keith absolutely did that, and it showed.

While I was his business associate, rather than a close friend, nevertheless I can understand how Keith touched so many lives.  He had drive and enthusiasm rarely found in this world, even among inspirational speakers:  his famous, and inspiring, "attitude". 

I'll close with a few lines taken from a letter from his close family members, about Keith's life and the experience of his death.

"....Keith fought a courageous battle with cancer and he fought it with the same positive attitude and energy that he pursued in every aspect of his life. If you asked Keith how he felt each day, you knew his answer would be “Super Fantastic".....We will miss his laughter and the smile that lit up any room...”

To Keith's family and close friends, I am so sorry for your loss.   We will miss him too.

David S. Rose: How To Be the Next Facebook/Google/Apple

The times, they have already changed.  Back in 'the day', whenever that day was, people who went to business school aspired to work for big-name corporations.   Most of them were getting their MBAs in order to rise to leadership positions in those big-name companies. 

Nowadays, large percentages of MBA students are in business school with the goal, not of working for someone else, but in having other people work for them.  In other words, they want to start their own companies.  Whether it's the next Facebook, the next Google, or the next Apple, or even the next Presidential campaign, they are hoping to find success at a new company, not an established one.

And often such students find themselves standing in the lobbies of venture capital firms, palms sweating, waiting for their turn to 'pitch' their company to the powers that be, asking for venture funding for their startups.  And this is where those venture capitalists have an opportunity to spot those "diamonds in the rough", getting in early on those companies that are going to, hopefully, be a major success. 

How a startup representative presents that "diamond" of an idea is often the difference between whether they get funding or not.   And how much funding, and what that funding is going to cost them down the road.  Gosh, I wish there was a way to learn how to do that better.  Wait, you guessed it!  There is!  

First there are books.  My favorite written advice comes from longtime Keynote favorite speaker Guy Kawasaki, legendary for giving the down-and-dirty, cut-to-the-bone kind of advice that entrepreneurs really need. 

And if you want your learning in person?  Guy is terrific in person, of course, being one of Keynote's most requested speakers of all time.  But he's only one, er, guy. 

Hopefully, you are lucky enough to attend a business school, or belong to an entrepreneurs' association, that books David S. Rose to teach you what to do.  

David S. Rose has seen it all happen in person in the venture capital/startup world.  He can give you the short version or the long version: the essence of entrepreneurship, how to fund your startup, how to get into the world of angel investing. 

For business schools and entrepreneur groups he is often asked to present his "Boot Camp for Startups", full of useful information, the kind it's sometimes hard to absorb or even find in a book.  David's information is so practical, he often has people following him out of the lecture hall, asking yet one more followup question....And his rapid-fire style means you should bring your notebook, whether it's the kind with a battery or the kind with a pencil.

David S. Rose spoke at the 2007 TED conference, which you can find here.  An invitation to TED often speaks for itself, but if you aren't yet familiar with this event, a bit of fishing around on the website will show you what kind of prestigious company this puts David in.  Think Al Gore.  Jeff Bezos.  Tim Berners-Lee.  Jimmy Wales.  Bill Clinton.  Bono.

David has been an extremely successful venture investor himself, and is much in demand by many sectors.  But he enjoys sharing the wisdom he's learned along the way with those who may have the next great idea. 

It used to be, back in the day, that great success stories like David S. Rose didn't share their hard-earned knowledge with other people.  But the times have indeed changed.

Your Dad Said What Now?

Thanks to the world of social media, a friend recently put me on to this book, Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern.  I thought it sounded funny, so I got a copy, not even realizing that it's been a fast-climbing bestseller reaching Amazon's number one ranking in June 2010. 

Also not yet realizing that Justin Halpern was already a successful magazine writer.  And a major Twitter phenomenon.  Or that the book has been made into a new TV sitcom, staring Captain Kirk...No wait, TJ Hooker...  No wait, it's Ranger Bob from Howdy Doody (I'm totally serious on that, check this out) ...  Whoops, I meant William Shatner.

Not my ordinary reading, though I love a book that makes me laugh.  But since I have so many books and business magazines piled up on my nightstand (and dresser, and floor, and bookshelf, and also under the bed) that I'm supposed to be reading for work, I seldom get a chance to read anything just for fun.  Happily for me, this ended up counting as both. 

Justin Halpern was recently profiled in the New York Times, though you will need to be a registered NYT subscriber (which is free) to read this.  It explains the history of the book and its success better than any other source I've found online.

I'm pleased to say that Justin accepts speaking engagements, and he is a heck of a funny guy.  Yup, just as you guessed, lots of swearing in the book.  And I wouldn't count on Justin's speech to be 100% free of swear words, either, but I think you probably didn't need me to help you figure that out.  

Justin also is involved with various other sites and publications, including the magazine Maxim and HolyTaco.com.  (Warning: not even remotely PC or free of swear words.  Lots of racy non-PC pictures, too.  Hence no link from me; this is a business blog, after all - you can find those websites on your own, if you're interested.) 

In the world of serious keynotes, programs that really make audiences think, and inspiring messages, sometimes it's nice to take a break, laugh a lot, and enjoy some humor.  If there are occasionally life lessons included therein, well, then, that's just a bonus.

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.

Improv Everywhere, and why it's good to have your sense of humor with you at all times.

A personal friend of mine, whose name I won't publicize (though it rhymes with Cher Stoplight) was a part of this Improv Everywhere, uh, incident, entitled Black Tie Beach.  He sent the video to a few friends, and when I watched it, my first thought was, "wow, that's funny." 

My second thought was, "does somebody organize these where I live?" 

And my third thought was, "why have I never heard of this group before?  I book entertainment (and speakers) for a living?" 

Then, when I saw how long they've been doing this, and how much press they've gotten, my fourth thought was, "I must live under a rock, not to have heard of them before."

So there you have it, people.  I live under a rock, apparently, but at least I have a sense of humor.  Although you won't see any "no pants days" around the Keynote office any time soon.  Apparently my sense of humor is conflicting with my desire to avoid employment lawsuits.

And I officially love this group Improv Everywhere.  One of our very popular tech-and-culture speakers, writer David Pogue , seems to love them also.  He and his son participated in the MP3 Experiment, and he had this to say:

Most people consider me a gadget reviewer. But in my heart, I consider my specialty to be the intersection of technology and culture. The real fun always begins at the clash of online and offline.......Through all of this, you couldn’t stop laughing. Part of it was the weirdness of seeing 3,000 people acting in perfect unison, even though externally, there wasn’t a sound. Part of it was the cleverness of the script, and Steve’s complete irreverence. (“Did you know that the art of square dancing was invented right here on Roosevelt Island? It probably wasn’t, but we’re going to square dance anyway.”)

To read David's entire blog post on the subject, on the New York Times site, go here.

So thanks, uh, "Cher".  Hope I get to work with these guys at IE, both personally and professionally, real soon. 

By the way, "Cher", or rather "Paul" and his wife have their own blog, on visiting museums in New York, which is a good read, particularly if you live in the NY area.

SeaWorld, Trust, and How to Successfully Leave Money on the Table

A couple weeks back I alluded to a speaker about whom I wanted to write, who recently did a great job for one of Keynote's clients.  Well, that speaker was Dave Horsager, and boy did he bring down the house. 

Dave Horsager's book is entitled "The Trust Edge".  One of his points is that given the opportunity, most people want to be trusted, want to do the right thing, and will want to continue to do the right thing.  And being trusted, and being able to trust others, will make people happier, more productive, and better at their jobs. 

Hence, he doesn't count money at his book sales, he just leaves the money and books on the table and asks people to make their own change.  Here is another photo of his book sales table.

What do you want to bet that he actually makes MORE money on these books than he would if he counted everyone's change carefully?  People feel proud of behaving honestly, and rightfully so, thus they would be more likely than not to just leave any extra change/small bills on the table, rather than the other way around.

Here is an excerpt from one of Dave's topic descriptions, and I think it described his basic philosophy and character pretty well:

Trust is a fundamental, bottom-line issue. Without it, leaders lose teams, salespeople lose sales, and organizations lose reputation, retention of good people, relationships and revenue. But with trust, individuals and organizations enjoy greater creativity, productivity, freedom, and results.

Through academic research and firsthand experience, Dave Horsager has learned what it takes to gain – and keep – The Trust Edge. Through a captivating presentation, Dave combines humor and illusions with business insight and analysis. He will show you how the little things, done consistently, add up to huge results. Attendees will walk away with concrete steps they can immediately use to improve their lives and careers.

And here are the smiling faces of Dave Horsager, me (Katrina Smith, on the far left), and Keynote agents Kathleen Mozena and Sean O'Keefe.  The photo was taken by Dave's lovely wife, who doesn't usually get to come to his speaking events because they have four beautiful kids who would miss their mom too much. 

And moving on to the event:  I don't want to break confidentiality by naming the client, but I think it's safe to say that one of the event sponsors was SeaWorld in San Diego, and they did a fantastic job on their part of the event.  The whole event seemed well done, but I was particularly impressed by SeaWorld's involvement and enthusiasm.

One of the ways Dave Horsager really impressed our client was his level of customization.  A quirky example: Dave actually vacationed in SeaWorld when he was a child.  When he found out they were one of the event sponsors, he dug out an old photo of himself wearing a SeaWorld T shirt, and showed it to the audience at the start of his speech.  We teased him about the powers of PhotoShop, but joking aside, it was an honest to goodness 30 year old picture of Dave in a SeaWorld T shirt, on vacation there with his family. 

Now, digging that out took some trouble, and the result was that the audience understood how committed Dave Horsager was to learning about their audience, addressing their needs, and doing a good job for them. Ain't no canned speeches here, ladies and gentlemen.

Keynote's agent Kathleen Mozena, who booked Dave for this event, took some photos of SeaWorld's animals in the lobby of the meeting space.  And here is Kathleen's smiling face, along with her new pal, who seemed to be enjoying posing for a picture as much as you can expect a kangaroo would. Hey, he looks a bit suspicious..maybe that's his purse that Kathleen just stole? 

At first I thought - hmm, that's kind of sketchy, making animals come to a hotel - but apparently they (the animals) had a pretty good time, all things considered.  And seeing as they get to represent their species on a PR effort, at a time when the more people who get involved with and support wild animal conservation the better...well, if you're a monkey or a bird, that's a pretty good gig.  You may get a bit less privacy than any other random monkey or bird, but you sure are helping out your "peeps" in a way that only you can. 

And I'm sure the hotel has an excellent rug cleaning service.

 

So there we have it, another very successful event, and another great Keynote Speaker.  Cheers to many more of both.

Quick take on some humorous aspects of technology

via funnybizbob.com

Awesome funny video from technology satirist Bob Hirschfeld.

Am particularly loving his take on social media : "No really, it's useful!  Really, it is!  It's for work - honest!"

If the clip link above isn't working for you, try this.

Have a great fourth!

No Fear

There's an article from the latest "Speaker" magazine, an NSA publication, that caught my eye.  Mostly because it reminded me of something I shouldn't ever forget.

I'm waiting for a place to point you all to see the article, but in the meantime I'll give you the part that stuck out for me.  I'll post the link to the article as soon as I can get it for you.

The author, a speaker named Terri Langhans, talked about how she lied, many years ago, in answer to a coaching question from speaker and former NSA president Mark LeBlanc, "What would you do if you were brave?" 

She lied because she didn't want to share the real answer with the group, but thinking about the real answer helped her make a major career change.

This resonated with me because it reminds me of one of my own personal mantras: No Fear.  Not exactly original, but it's enough to remind me sometimes to just take the plunge, leap into the unknown, stop worrying! 

So for today, my reminder to anyone else out there paying attention is:  have no fear.  What would you do if you were brave?

The answer to that question, for me personally, has more than once led me down a path I wouldn't have otherwise followed.  And it's always been in a good way.  Hmm, now I have to think of a new answer, since it's been a while since I asked myself that question.....