NSA Wisconsin: Your Source for Professional Speakers

A Debt of Gratitude

This chapter wouldn't exist if not for the great members who pitch in to share their time, talent, and expertise. Last fall, several members spoke at the Wisconsin Marketing & Management Association Fall Leadership Conference. They spoke for free and paid their own travel. In return, WMMA paid our chapter $4,000, which goes a long way to helping out with our annual operating budget, allowing us to deliver the best value to our members. Many more volunteered, but here are the ones who were selected and deserving of our thanks:

 

Three Workshop Presenters

Roger Dalkin

Kerry Denson

Jim Morrison

 

Morning Keynote

Chip Lutz

 

Evening Keynote

Mick Hager

Open to The Public: Get Fired Up With Bill Ester

Professional member BIll Ester will be speaking in Mequon, Wisconsin in a program open to the public. The program, entitled "Fired Up On Purpose," will be held at the Mequon Country Club on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 from 6:30-9:15. If you are interested in hearing and supporting one of our own, check out the details here.

NSA-WI Mourns the Loss of Two Friends and Colleagues

This past week, our chapter lost two friends and speaking colleagues.

One of our Emeritus Members, Jerry Reckner, passed away on Thanksgiving Day.  Jerry was a long time member of the chapter.  A true professional, he always was willing to offer a helping hand to newer members and speakers.

Sandi Knudson passed away unexpectedly the day after Thanksgiving at her brother's home. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the NSA. Sandi was a caring, loving person, and a friend to everybody. (In lieu of flowers please mail a donation to Crivitz Youth Inc., P.O. Box 188, Crivitz, WI 54114. Sandi would have appreciated that.)

Jerry and Sandi will be greatly missed. We are all better off for having known them, and their friends and families are in our hearts and prayers.

Feel free to add your memories of Jerry and Sandi in the comments section below.

Video tribute by Mike Domitrz...

Mark Borowski's Book Receives Good Parenting Seal

The Good Parenting Seal from Parental Wisdom, a patented parenting website that recognizes parents as the real experts in knowing their children best, recognized and awarded the seal to the book, Big Slick Daddy: Poker Strategies for Parenting Success by NSA-WI President Mark Borowski.

Mark released Big Slick Daddy on June 17, 2007 and in just one year, the book has been recognized as a resource for parents that provides clear, helpful and actionable information. Evaluated by parents, the Good Parenting Seal exists to resolve the issue of parents with limited time and money to sort through the many thousand books, millions of websites and other media when researching advice on raising children.

James Abate, Good Parenting Seal Evaluator, said, "Big Slick Daddy is the rare book that inspires you to not only think about how you live your life, but to actually make adjustments.”

In an effort to reach men about the important topic of fatherhood, Mark capitalized on poker’s immense popularity by using the language and strategies of poker and relating them to parenting. The book helps fathers build strong, healthy relationships with their kids by providing practical, hands-on information that is easy to read and easy to use. Even men and women alike who do not play poker find the book engaging and easy to read.

Congrats on the honor, Mark!

NSA Rocked New York

by Jason Kotecki
Professional Member

The NSA Convention was held in New York City this year and it definitely lived up to the hype. Eric Chester and his team transformed the "convention" into a "concert." The minute the doors opened on the first General Session, attendees knew they were in for a unique experience. Rock music blasted through the speakers and people were dressed in classic concert attire.

The ushers (see Wisconsin's own Eliz Greene and Chip Lutz pictured here) were outfitted with electric guitars and stood on chairs to greet the incoming guests. Even NSA President Mark LeBlanc got into the act, sliding across the stage in white socks sporting sunglasses and white underwear a la Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

Yep, you read that right. Probably the first and only time an NSA President will show up on stage in his or her underwear.

Bill Stainton teamed up with British Mania (a world-class Beatles tribute band) to deliver "Shake It Up! What The Beatles Can Teach Us About the Speaking Business." It was a high-energy program that featured signature songs and insightful parallels between speakers and rock stars.

Marshall Goldsmith, management guru and author of "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" kicked things off on Sunday morning. One of his best pearls of coaching wisdom was this: Imagine you’re 90 years old, on your death bed, and you have the chance to give your current self advice on how to have a better life (personally and professionally). What would your 90-year-old self say?

Chris Clarke-Epstein and Mike Domitrz made our chapter proud with their own standout performances. Besides hosting her annual rock solid "Return on Attendance" session, Chris also delivered one of the most content-rich programs of the convention. Entitled "What the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Knows That You Don't: How to Develop a Purposeful Product Philosophy," Chris discussed the fact that your audience wants to take the experience you created home with them, not just a product, and she outlined how to do just that. Meanwhile, Mike was featured "Live in Concert: With The Young Guns," a showcase of six top speakers under 40 delivering 10 minutes of their best stuff. Mike's bold performance definitely rocked.

Speaking legend Les Brown handed out buckets of gold nuggets in his program, which stressed the importance of continually working on yourself. He said, "Speaking is a projection of who you are, not who you think you oughta be." He also warned about "not letting what you want to say get in the way of what the audience needs to hear."

Financial guru Steve Forbes impressed the audience with his self-depricating humor and common-sense ideas on the economy and the upcoming elections. Many people walked away wishing he had decided to run for president again this year.

Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon, and Simon Kirke, founding member of Bad Company, were also on hand for a panel discussion during lunch on Monday. Kevin regaled the crowd with an acoustic version of "Take It On The Run." A big takeaway from the session was the importance of practice. The best rock stars -- and the best speakers -- spend a lot of time away from the limelight practicing their craft.

One of the great highlights of the entire convention was the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame/Cavett Awards Banquet, in which NSA-WI member Mike McKinley received the highly prestigious Cavett Award. It is presented annually to the member whose accomplishments over the years have reflected outstanding credit, respect, honor and admiration in NSA and the speaking profession, and whose actions (in terms of sharing, guiding and inspiring other members) most closely parallel the illustrious career of NSA Founder Cavett Robert. Mike's acceptance speech was, not surprisingly, humble and humorous. He told a story about him and his wife riding in the car together one night. "I wish you would drink more," she said.

"Why?" asked Mike.

"It would help explain your behavior," was her reply.

Perhaps banquet co-host George Campbell said it best after Mike left the stage, when he said, "Does it bother anybody else that Mike's impromptu speech is better than any of our prepared speeches?"

William Strickland, Jr. helped close out the convention on an inspiring note, as he shared some of the truly remarkable things he has been able to accomplish with at-risk youth and welfare mothers in the inner city of Pittsburgh. Amazing stuff. When he was finished, Bill got the longest and loudest standing ovation of the entire convention. A video of one of Bill's speeches is below. It's from the TED conference, but it's very similar to the one he gave in New York. I promise you it's one of the most inspiring and encouraging things you'll ever encounter.

All in all, this year's convention did indeed rock, delivering on style and substance, as anyone who attended could attest. If you missed out, be sure to mark your calendar for next year's convention in Phoenix!

2008 NSA-WI Chapter Award Winners

by Jason Kotecki
Professional Member

Our June meeting featured an array of awards and acknowledgements. Here are the highlights:

Sally Anders, who is leaving the board, was presented with a token of our extreme appreciation for her many years of service, including her tenure as Chapter President.

Gayle Zynda received the Rising Star Award. The Rising Star Award was created to recognize an individual who has achieved great success in the speaking industry early in their career and/or an individual who has shown great dedication to NSA Wisconsin and the speaking industry. The meeting was in the midst of a busy week, but her son Adam did a good job of making sure she was there, ensuring a huge surprise for Gayle.

Eliz Greene was awarded Chapter Member of the Year for her outstanding service, most notably her role in the development and implementation of Speaker U, which has blossomed into a very valuable program to help emerging speakers jump start their career. Eliz's enthusiasm and willingness to volunteer her talents at the drop of a hat have made a big difference to many people.

Finally, Robert Ian, our outgoing Chapter President (see here with NSA National President Mark LeBlanc), was presented with the Visionary Award. The Visionary Award is not an annual award category. This award is only given when a rare leader emerges. A visionary award winner is a person of unusually keen foresight, a dreamer. This person moves forward, with enthusiasm with little regard for what is actually possible. Robert completely fits the bill for this award. He has been instrumental in developing our website, which is the only NSA chapter site to feature videos of their members. He has also been a phenomenal leader as president, spearheading a variety of important projects, like Speaker School and Video Day, and has generously shared the knowledge he has gained in a successful career hat has spanned decades.

Here Robert accepts the Visionary Award from Kim and Jason Kotecki.

Congratulations to all of our award winners, and thank you to everyone who has helped make this chapter so rich, rewarding, and fun!

Changes to the Board

The upcoming 2008-09 chapter year brings with it some new changes to the board. First of all, we are pleased to have two new members stepping up to serve the chapter. And the duo is bringing a lot of experience from the profession of speaking.

Patty Hendrickson is an expert in leadership development for the whole person – personally and professionally. Patty is a Certified Speaking Professional – the highest earned designation of the National Speakers Association. She works with organizations that want to grow leaders and with people who want more out of life. Patty shares programs with both students and professionals and is the author of the inspirational book, now in its fourth printing, called Who I Am Depends on Me!

Jim Morrison has been a professional speaker since 1983 and also has over 30 years of corporate experience, 20 in management positions. He uses humor, stories and music to deliver messages that focus on solutions to organizational and personal problems. The focus is on Leadership and related topics including Public Speaking skills and Communications. Jim is a Licensed Real Estate Broker, a Registered Lobbyist, and a member of a classic rock band.

Welcome, Patty and Jim!

Sadly, the board is also saying goodbye to Sally Anders. Sally has tirelessly served the board for many, many years, including an outstanding term as chapter president. She has a big spot in her heart for NSA-WI, and our chapter is better off because of her involvement over the years.

Sally, thank you so much for all of your dedicated service, you're the greatest!

Stephen Busalacchi featured in Cap Times

Stephen Busalacchi's new book "White Coat Wisdom," was featured in the Capital Times. It's a book in which "extraordinary doctors talk about what they do, how they got there and why medicine is so much more than a job."

"White Coat Wisdom" is filled with awe-inspiring stories as physicians discuss fascinating experiences that are unique to the medical profession. Interspersed throughout is the grit necessary to overcome substantial obstacles and ultimately discover true fulfillment in one's personal and professional life.

Read the full article here. Congrats, Stephen!

Chip Lutz Featured in Zig Ziglar's Newsletter

NSA Wisconsin welcomes new member Charles "Chip" Lutz, MSEd, CLL. Chip recently retired from the Navy and his views on leadership were highlighted in the Zig Ziglar's latest newsletter.

Congratulations and welcome Chip!

Jim Morrison WOWS Executive Speakers School Luncheon

by Sally Anders
Professional Member

In my November article reviewing our first Executive Speaker School, I focused on our instructors. Those excellent speakers who volunteered to share their knowledge and secrets on the speaking game. This time, I want to draw your attention to our luncheon speaker, Jim Morrison. Jim taught at our wonderful learning event in the best way possible – by showing our students what a professional speaker looks like.

Using stories, humor and music, Jim Morrison applies his 20-plus years of management experience to delivering messages that focus on the simple solutions to common, personal and organizational problems. He is a professional member of the National Speaker's Association, as well as our chapter, which once honored him with the Chapter Member of the Year Award, and the Spirit of Service Award for long-term dedication to our chapter and the speaking industry. Getting awards is something Jim seems to excel in as he also received the Shining Star Award from United Way for having trained their loaned employees in speaking skills for more than 12 years. Jim was a great addition to our day of learning.

In telling his personal story of a life changing phone call, he made the point that we are all only one phone call from a life changing experience – demonstrating the value of sharing your stories with your audience.

Success, another of the day's themes, was put into perspective when Jim compared the earnings of Michael Jordan, who made about $40 million a year, to Bill Gates. Michael would have to save all his earnings for 270 years to equal the wealth of Bill Gates! Here Jim showed how the eloquent use of statistics can make your point so much more memorable. His point about developing your own definition of success will be remembered, thanks to Michael and Bill's example.

Jim's obvious heart felt emotion drove home the importance of recognizing how your well thought out and developed definition of success can quickly change with that life changing phone call, and the importance of being a good communicator – especially a good listener – which could help you achieve whatever your new definition of success happens to be.

Jim's strong close pulled it all together by challenging us all not to wait for that life changing phone call, but to make those all important life changes now. He challenged us to call someone today. To make some life changes without the phone call or the emergency that prompted it.

Jim shared some great, entertaining platform tips about distracting gestures like the swaying speaker, the parade rest speaker, the flasher and the fig leaf speaker. He also emphasized the importance of meeting the time frame – no matter how much it may have changed from your original agreement. But he need not have bothered telling us how a professional speaker stood or moved or filled his time slot with respect for the entire event, because he was a perfect example of what a prepared, passionate and professional speaker looks and sounds like.

Most of the attendees at our Executive Speaker School were there to learn how to give a better speech – not to turn pro. Good thing. Because all of our speakers, including our example of a great luncheon speaker who molds his message to fit the theme of the conference, Jim Morrison, clearly demonstrated the substantial difference between a "pretty good speaker" and a "professional speaker."

Well done!