Rickey Henderson Wows with Induction Speech

Nice story on the induction speech given by now-Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson. For those not in the know, he stole more bases than any player in the history of professional baseball.

Snippet and link:

When Rickey was a youngster and learning how to get a good lead, play cat-and-mouse with the pitcher and steal bases during his first year in the Minor Leagues (1976) his coach was longtime baseball guru Tom Trebelhorn.

When Rickey wanted to polish his admitted speaking deficiencies, he went to school. That might be hard to believe, but that's what he did in the days leading up to the induction.

For the past two weeks, he attended two summer classes at Laney Community College in Oakland.

The courses? Public Speaking and Introduction to Speech, both taught by Earl Robinson, a former Major Leaguer with the Dodgers (1958) and Orioles (1961-63). Robinson even went to Rickey's home some nights to help him polish the speech.

"It was great," Henderson told me in a quiet corner two hours after Sunday's induction. "He kept telling me to slow down. You know, I tend to cut off my words in a sentence and we worked on that. And he kept stressing, 'Slow down. Slow down.' You know I talk very fast, and Earl said I had a habit of talking about something, go off it and not know how to come back."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090726&content_id=6067970&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

--John
www.idspeakers.com

Million Dollar Cancellation Fee for Corporate Meeting

This little snipped from Hospitality Net blew me away about the perception of "excessive indulgence" in the corporate meeting world. Check this out and link to full story about the state of the event planning industry

Perception of politically incorrect excessive indulgence is not going away.
The “perception” problem with corporate groups meeting at high-end resort destinations appears to be not going away soon. I had a conversation recently with a senior sales and marketing executive of one of the most revered trophy resorts. He told me about a financial institution client that had booked the resort every year going back to the 1970s and had just cancelled their 2010 meeting despite having to pay nearly US$1 Million in cancellation fees.

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4042256.html

--John

www.idspeakers.com

Hotel prices for groups versus everyday travelers are upside down

I have to admit that I found this article by Sarah Clarke of The Orlando Sentinel to be fascinating. I can't imagine that this type of pricing can be sustained.

Snippet and link follow:

Most of the nation's top 25 hotel markets are slashing the rates they charge everyday travelers, while the prices paid by large groups and conventioneers have fallen just slightly. As a result of this recession-fighting tactic, groups that used to get discounts on high-end hotel rooms for their annual meetings or trade shows are now paying more than walk-in customers for those same rooms.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-cfbcover-room-rates-072009072009jul20,0,1263556.story

--John

www.idspeakers.com

GOP Whip Honing Speaking Skills for White House Run?

From the Washington Post "Sleuth" Mary Ann Akers...Shows how important public speaking is to elected officials.

Further fueling speculation that House Republican Whip Eric Cantor is mulling a bid for the White House, new federal election reports show the Virginia Republican recently spent big bucks on speech coaching.

The No. 2 House GOP leader paid $7,697.25 for the services of ace speaking coaches Roy and Jeanette Henderson -- more specifically, one of the husband-wife team's Podium Master seminars. The date listed for those services was May 28, according to the Cantor congressional campaign's most recent mandatory filing with the Federal Election Commission.

More here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2009/07/_further_fueling_speculation_t.html?hpid=politics

--John
www.idspeakers.com

Washington Women in Public Relations public speaking workshop July 27

I like public relations (that's my full-time gig) and I like promoting public speaking (part-time gig). The two are meeting today, and I will be careful not to "cross the streams."


Washington Women in Public Relations presents Denise Graveline, a speaker coach who will speak on the topic "Step Up Your Speaking: Be an Eloquent Woman" Monday, July 27, from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Suite 100, 25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, in Washington DC (metro: Union Station).

http://www.examiner.com/x-2835-DC-Marketing-and-PR-Examiner~y2009m7d21-Washington-Women-in-Public-Relations-public-speaking-workshop-July-27

--John
www.idspeakers.com

Great Relationships Are the Key to Great Events

Nice article from Successful Meetings by Kathy Cattoor.

Here's a little bit and a link:

Creating a great event necessitates ongoing communication and interaction between the sales department and the meeting planner that may continue well after an event has taken place. With companies restricting travel budgets and the number of destination meetings being reduced, it is more important than ever for both planners and salespeople to stay engaged with each other through personal interaction.

http://www.successmtgs.com/mimegasite/articles/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003992660

--John

www.idspeakers.com

Boosting Your Confidence in Presentations

Great intro to this piece on Boosting Your Confidence in Presentations:

How is it that normally secure, confident, outgoing people can feel so nervous about giving a presentation? A recent survey of the top 10 things people most dreaded showed Public Speaking as top of the list closely followed by Death! Presumably if you were asked to give a eulogy at a funeral you would prefer to be in the ‘box'.

http://buyersteps.ulitzer.com/node/1036747

--John

www.idspeakers.com