Live from the NSA Convention in Phoenix!
Wendy Kinney, VP/Programs sent quick updates from the convention floor.
1:15 - Answered a tweet last night, have an appointment to be interviewed for a London, UK radio show!
10:00 - Headed for Sculpting: A Simple, Fun, Fresh Technique to Deliver Tailored Presentations 9:00 - Humorous keynote from Linda Larsen after the new board was introduced, and Phil Van Hooser gave his opening speech.
8:00 - Opening poems from Taylor Mali again. That viral poem about what a teacher makes is one of his! Gotta get his book this morning. I'm on a mission.
7:50 - Barbara McNichol and Max Dixon came in. I met Beth Cole yesterday, who wants an introduction to Barbara - serendipity! Tuesday, July 21, 7:45 - Stopped by the sound booth to say good morning to Steve. 7:30 - George and I joined Jim and Hedy for a celebratory Birthday dinner at Roy's.
Check the picture here. 5:30 - Strategy session in Jean Houston Shore's room with Jim, Jon, Steve and Rich. Great programs coming to NSA Georgia. Mark the 3rd Saturday of every month right now.
4:00 - 20/20 Lightning Talks: Using 20 Slides for 20 Seconds Each. Jim Mathis is one of the presenters! It's a cool riff on Real Rally - the TED format we saw Sunday morning. Some were funny, some a pitch, some poignant.
2:15 - Eager for the Neen James session SuperProductivity: Leverage Your Productivity Style and Increase Your Results by 30 Percent. I bought her book on Sunday the minute I saw it in the bookstore. Amoung other things, I like the book layout. 1:00 - Nando Parrado is the lunchtime keynote. For more 72 days he and his teammates fought for survival after a plane crash in the Andes. He's telling us about the leadership and teamwork that saved their lives. 12:44:- Keith Harrell who is still a member of NSA Georgia, even though he now lives in Florida, just won the
Nido Qubein Philanthropy Award. And gave a powerful acceptance speech.
11:45 - A tribute to NSA members who died this year. They showed pictures on the screen while six NSA members sang an emotional arrangement of 525,948 Minutes. Happy Birthday to Jim Dawson 11:45 - Lunch. Take a look at the number of people here! Just under 1300. I got to meet Wendy Kenney. {grin} Jim Mathis said the session by Francine Ward, Someone Is Tealing Your Book, Idea or Brand: Protect It Now, was very good. (Rich is thinking of her for one of our meetings next year) Jim Dawson said he got several valuable things from 37 Tips To Ignite Learning--Engage Everyone Every Time You Speak. Harry VanderKraben and Steve Williams brought us extra handouts from Anatomy Of A Sales Call by Deanna Turner. 10:00 - Six Weeks to a Great Webinar: Generate Leads and Tell Your Story To The World with Wayne Turmel . Good session. The handout is a six week checklist. He identified many of the potholes I've been worried about twisting my ankle in. Wish the session had been about twice as long. 8:47 -
Joe Malarkey (aka George Campbell). Just hold your sides and laugh. Whew. Wiping tears! 8:13 - Opening keynote: Kim Snider . We met her two years ago at the Foundation benefit. I bought her new book in the bookstore Sunday. Monday, July 20, 8:00 - Opening poem: In case . . . It's like . . . You know. {audience is howling} I'll find a link for you if I can! 12:46am - Atlanta time! Have to do a few things and then get to sleep, per DJ's advice this morning. First session starts at 8am again. Three breakouts tomorrow. Check out the NSAGeorgia Blog for pictures. 9:00 - Steve and Annlouise caught the bus back with us! 6:00 - Taking the shuttle across to the Marketplace for dinner at Pita Paradise with Jim and Hedy and Steve and Arlene, and some new friends from NY and Colorado. 5:15 - Whew. Brain is full. Meeting George in the prefunction area. Click here for pics.3:35 - Jim Dawson just got here! Yeah! (Tomorrow is his birthday, thinking of something surprising that won't embarrass him.) 3:45 - Make Millions as the Expert. Didn't realize until I got to the room that Brendon Burchard is also doing this session. Another home run--with strong content on why our products must be the best we can do, not something we throw together; the 10 things that qualify someone for expert status; and the homework assignment to call 20 leaders in our industry and interview them in order to find where we align with their thinking and where we can take a contrary position. 2:00 - Building Sponsorship Partnerships by Brendon Burchard . This guy is giving us real stuff. How to identify companies and non-profits who would sponsor us. What's in it for them. How to pitch, when to ask for the meeting. My most important take-away: You don't have to tell them what you can do. You tell them what you could do if they sponsored you. Second most important take-away: they're not interested in your list. They have their own list, and it's much bigger than yours could ever be. It's not about your list. 12:15 - Met Lisa and Bob McLoud from Snellville in the buffet line at lunch. Will follow through with them about coming to our meeting. 11:54 - Keith Ferrazzi11:37 - Valorie Burton 11:19 - David Nour10:59 - Scott Halford was given an impromptu introduction; and believe me when I tell you that this is not an impromptu kind of meeting. Ed Tate shared that during a time when everyone was telling him how good he was, he asked Scott for feedback. Halford's reply? "You're going to have to be better." What a gift--the gift of honesty. What a response--gratitude, and practise. 10:41 - D.J. Eagle Bear Vanas was one of Dan Thurmon's guests at the Jam Session in Las Vegas last April. His presentation today was very different. As engaging. Action point for me: get more sleep. Oy. 9:49 - Wow. These speakers are the bar. It's high. More mirror and recorder practice time required for me. 9:37 - Josh Sundquist9:21 - Shawna Schuh9:02 - Peter Sheahan8:43 - Joseph Michelli8:40 - Opening session is modeled after the TED Conference . (Timer in the upper lefthand corner of the Magtron, when the timer reaches 0 their microphone is turned off!) 8:38 - Laughing so hard at The O'Shea Report that I couldn't type! Sorry. Wish you were here. 8:16 - The Master of Influence Award. to David Yoho, one of the seven people who started NSA. He gave a phenomenal thank you speech, including reading (yes, reading) a piece of prose he wrote for the occasion. Following the applause he explained that he wanted to model reading a prepared presentation, a style that isn't common anymore, but can still be effective. 8:09 - Rob Waldo Waldman! Two from Atlanta! We Rock! 8:06 - Daniel Grissom! Daniel Grissom! Our own Daniel Grissom! I didn't realize he was a candidate! YEAH! Standing. Cheering. 8:06 - The first CSP from Germany! 8:00 - Fewer than 600 people have earned the CSP designation. I'm so impressed by our CSP members. Sunday, July 19, 7:56 - Steve just raised the music volume! Starting now!
8:00 - After the opening ceremonies, they feed us! And what a phenomenal meal this was. Asian food in rice boxes and bannana leaf boats! Chopsticks optional. Saw Debbie and Jim Ziegler. Said hi to David Nour as we were heading up to our room to prepare for the 6 o'clock wake up call in the morning.
6:00 - Sat with Debbie and Harry Vander Kraben, Mac Marterossian and David Allen. Steve Williams and Annlouise were right behind us. The session opened with gymnasts who I was sure were with Cirque de Soliel. {I had seen Cirque is coming to Phoenix July 29} I was wrong - they're from California, and they were engaging. Found out what Steve Cohn was practising for - he's the emcee! Bravo Steve ! Whoop-whoop-whoop! Sam Silverstein, the outgoing National President, welcomed us with tweets on the magtron screen. {Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense. You really had to be there. grin} Next the jugglers Jon Wee and Owen Morse. In their opinion no speech is complete without a cheesy acroynm, and theirs was ICE. Innovation, Collaboration, Execution. And memory, they said, is enhanced by juggling the letters around, so they started with the C instead of I. Vince Poscente's daughter introduced him. {She's, maybe, 14?} She was incredible. What pride Vince must have felt.
His presentation was so polished.
At the age of 26 Vince decided to compete in the Olympics. And four years later, he did!
His question to us "If you made the decision to compete in four years how would you prepare. What would you do?"
Vince told his story, showed video, explained the problems, and gave us great advice.
"Our instinct is to have balance. Think about learning to ride a bike . . . you want to have balance . . . how do you do that? Keep pedaling. That's not our instinct; our instinct is to balance first and then start pedaling. That isn't how it works. Keep pedaling."
We watched him compete.
We watched him hit a bump.
We watched him loose.
"There is not a big market," Vince told us, "for speakers who competed in the Olympics and lost."
Yet, Vince has made a market for himself, and shared with us insights on gaining the mental toughness it takes to have your best be the best in the world. 5:30 - George and I decided to grab a strawberry smoothie before the opening ceremonies. Terri Langhans popped around with a smile and a hug. She said she's still working on the chocolate we gave her as a gift for speaking at our chapter. Saw Dan Thurmon in line. He said he didn't need caffine, he just wanted it! 5:15 -Saw Jim Mathis chatting with David Allen and Gina Schreck. David is a friend who is just joining the speaking business; he and Jim live minutes from each other, they discovered. Gina did a breakout session at the February conference in Orlando on Second Life. George and I decided to grab a snack before the opening ceremonies 4:40 - Sat down in the pre-function area to update this and Mary Kwok, from Belgium, came over to ask about my computer. We had a lovely chat; I think we'll be friends. Saw Steve Cohn walk by...he was wearing white tennis shoes. {Wonder what he was practising.} Jean Houston Shore sat down for a minute, she was on her way to deliver presents. Now a little break before the opening ceremonies. Lou Heckler just stopped to shake hands with George, and say that the three guys doing the opening tonight are over the top funny: Vince Poscente was a downhill speed skier. Lou says nobody with any sense does that! Jon Wee and Owen Morse are on, too. They were on America's Got Talent in 2006. 4:10 - Went through the exhibit hall quickly. I'll do another pass tomorrow. Bought 2 books: Secrets of Super-Productivity: How To Achieve Amazing Things In Your Work Life, {I'm attending Neen James' session on Monday} and Kim Snider's How To Be The Family CFO: Four Simple Steps To Put Your Financial House In Order, {We sat with her at the Foundation benefit in San Diego two years ago where she told us about the angst of writing the [*&%#] book--and now, it's in my hands. Wow.} and found an excellent new product I think I'll add to my mix. Saw
