The night before the conference began, attendees arriving early participated in an informal gathering to get to know each other. In addition to the casual, unstructured conversation, attendees were paired to learn about each other and present a "brief biography" of their partner to the group. 

Friday

The formal conference began with Pete Johnson's all day session entitled "How to Turn a Keynote into a $100,000 Contract or More". Pete is one of the most brilliant strategic minds in our industry. In his all day session, Pete Johnson shared incredible ideas and options for speakers to develop long term relationships from their keynotes. He not only provided the ideas and options, he delivered extremely detailed examples of everything he discussed.

Then, he stayed through the remainder of the conference to work with attendees one on one. He even invited all the attendees to call him with questions and to come to his house in California.

Saturday

On the second day, Mary McKay presented "A Speaker's Guide to Systematizing the Booking Process". As the booking agent for Mark Victor Hansen, creator of the billion dollar enterprise Chicken Soup for the Soul, Mary knows what it takes to book a speaker. She condensed her knowledge in to a tight, easy to understand, detailed, repeatable process. Even if the attendees put off this work for nine months, handouts will give them all the information and examples they need for them to be successful implementing her information.

In addition, Mary worked with Trudy Bourgeois to transform Trudy's current marketing materials. Trudy's hard work and giving spirit showed as she shared the results with the attendees, providing specific examples of how Mary's system can be implemented. The results were not just hypothetical, theoretical examples, but real life, real time examples of Trudy's current materials.

Juanell Teague's presentation of the Door Opening Speech featured Mike Armour. Mike had spent days both working with Juanell and in working on his own, to craft an example of the Door Opening Speech using Juanell's principles. The result was a speech so well orchestrated that people could "see it". Mike speech positioned his business problem so that everyone could understand how important it is.

Mike also demonstrated an understanding of the problem and its solution that was so deep and insightful, the audience can believe he is the only one with a solution. The handout of his speech, with the detailed breakdown of its component parts, continues to provide a starting point for Juanell Teague's new program.

Sunday

Chris Thrash, one of the attendees and a conference sponsor presented how he had implemented Juanell's 22 Speaker Models in a way that enabled everyone to grasp the importance of the models and how they can be used to increase business performance.

Wayne Schaaf, a vendor attendee, presented principles of website development supported by specific, concrete examples of websites. His cutting edge information enabled the attendees to leave with a better understanding of the potential value of a website as a marketing development and support tool for professional speakers.

Stephen Krempl was an unexpected highlight of the day. Stephen delivered his theory of Instructional Geography backed up by an exciting three-screen, multimedia presentation. The attendees learned quickly why three-screens are better and how they can overcome many of the problems embedded in traditional PowerPoint presentations. They also learned how economical such approaches can be, both to develop and to implement.

Chris Thrash's Sunday Morning Devotional shared his life and how he is serving. It touched the heart of all the attendees.

Other Highlights

In addition to the formal sessions, attendees gathered in small groups to share problems and brainstorm solutions. By calling upon their synergistic wisdom, the attendees were able not only to learn others' best practices, but even to create new, innovative solutions to the problems. The results not only helped the attendee who brought the problem, but all the participants.

Professional speakers are no strangers to hotel banquet food. But our hotel performed magnificently in this area. Attendees consistently reported that the food was the best they had ever received at a conference.

Perhaps the most important benefit is the sense of community which formed at the event. They attendees experienced a spiritual bonding that continues even now. They remain in frequent communication, asking for advice, reviewing everyone's ongoing work and supporting each other as they implement the lessons they learned at the conference.