CarusoBlog

Speakers Go To the Best Places -- Palm Springs Is An Oasis

Composed in Palm Springs, California--

Speakers get to go to all the best places because people always meet in beautiful resorts.  Recently, I was asked to speak in Palm Springs, California.

If Hawaii is paradise, then Palm Springs is an oasis.  The desert city is a great getaway for tourists from all over the world and it offers two unique types of self-guided tours:  one in the city and one in the mountains.

Palm Springs is associated with dead celebrities such as Dean Martin, Howard Hughes, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.  All had homes here.  Sonny Bono was the Mayor of Palm Springs before he won a congressional seat for California.  The downtown sidewalks feature celebrity stars such as Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller.

Visitors can buy a map to the stars' homes to take a self-guided tour of houses formerly owned by famous people.  Tons of homes are featured on the tour, including former homes of Sammy Davis Jr., Zsa Zsa Gabor, Alan Ladd, Kirk Douglas, Clark Gable and Bing Crosby.

Nearby, the city of Palm Desert features the famous Frank Sinatra compound, distinguished only by a pink brick wall that  encloses a five square block  plot of land.  I don't know what one has to do in order to have a  street named after himself, but Gerald Ford, Bob Hope and Dinah Shore have done it.

The main tourist attraction is a fantastic aerial tramway conceived by business man Francis Crocker.  A tramway car can transport up to 80 people to the top of San Jacinto (elevation 8,400 feet), where there is a restaurant and 54 miles of self-guided hiking trails. 

The tramway is the largest in the world and the only one of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

Crocker conceived the project in  1935, but didn't finish building it until 1963.  It's referred to as a "double-reversible" tramway because the floor rotates 360 degrees two times during the ten-minute ride. 

The Unvarnished Truth About What Happened In Chicago

Composed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada--

Earlier this year, I delivered the keynote speech at the 38th Annual BONES Conference in Chicago, Illinois.  BONES is a National Association for Orthopaedic Administrators.  It was an awesome gig, mostly because of the great people in attendance.

I recently received a copy of the audience reviews.  I normally don't make this information public, but I teach people that you must toot your own horn once in a while and I certainly want to be a good role model.  :-)

The ratings below are printed in their entirety without any editing from me.  While I'm proud of these scores, it's not unusual feedback.  I deliver about 110 paid presentations a year, so I get a lot of practice. 

The following scores are from a keynote speech I delivered on Monday, May 7 in Chicago.  The speech was titled, How to Read People Better and Faster.  This data represents the unvarnished evaluations from attendees that day.

Rate the Course:

1.  Did the course meet the stated objective?   Yes (70)  No (0)

2. Should the course be repeated next year?   Yes (67)   No (1)

3.  Was the course relevant and applicable to you professionally?   Yes (68)   No (0)

4.  Was the course relevant and applicable  Yes (67)  No (0)

  5. How was the course content?   Too narrow (1)  Too broad  (2)  Just right (65)

 

Rate the Speaker:

  6.  Prepared for the presentation:  4-Excellent (67)  3-Good (3)  2-Average (0)  1-Poor (0)

     7.  Knowledge of the topic:  4-Excellent (66)  3-Good (4)  2-Average (0)  1-Poor (0)

 8.  Presentation and delivery:  4-Excellent (66) 3-Good  (4) 2-Average (0)  1-Poor (0)

     9.  Handout and A/V material quality:  4-Excellent (24) 3-Good (4)  2-Average (4)  1-Poor (0)

Comments:

 Great course; enjoyed the keynote message and was thrilled to be in his course. I enjoyed his teaching.

Terrific!

This presentation gives me power. I look forward to applying to my practice. I enjoyed the group participation concept. Great job.

It will be wonderful to put it to work on my everyday life. Thank you.

Excellent.

 Very enjoyable. Thank you.

A “#1!”

Just wonderful. Thank you for speaking to us twice (keynote and session).

 Think should present again next year.

Excellent and intuitive. Interactive rather than lecture. Could talk with him for hours.

Great energy and interaction with audience.

Audio had issues early on. Michael is absolutely nothing short of a spectacular speaker.  He utilizes a perfect combination of information and a sincere desire to influence.

Great speaker.

Excellent. Thank you!

Excellent.

Excellent speaker; time just flew by. Topics are very applicable to everyday life at the practice.

Very prepared – kept your attention. Every manager needs to take this class. Great job!

Great!  Really had fun! 

Fun and interactive. Good personality, not overbearing, get his point across.

Again, I'm proud to inform you that these evaluations are not doctored in any way.  I did not leave any information out, although clearly a large number of attendees chose not to submit a written evaluation form.

I challenge other speakers to occasionally post their ratings so that meeting planners can learn more about what to expect when they book speakers.

 

The Emmy's Try to Shake the Award Show Ratings Curse

Posted from Royal Oak, Michigan--

I watched a good portion of the Emmy's on television this week.  The Sopranos won several awards and their was a terrific tribute to what is widely known as the greatest TV drama of all time.

Televised award shows are just not doing well in the ratings.  Last year, American Idol was on at the same time as the Academy Awards and the amateurs got a much higher Nielsen rating than the professionals.

In an effort to shake things up, this year's Emmy production crew converted the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium so that the stage was "in the round."  Host Ryan Seacrest, the performers and the presenters did an admirable job adjusting to the layout.  I think it took less time for people to walk to the stage because many folks were sitting closer than in past years. 

I went to the LA Shrine Auditorium in 1995 to attend the Academy Awards.  The red carpet experience is really something and I highly recommend it to everyone, including people who don't get into "the celebrity thing."  It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

Anyway, I hardly recognized the Shrine as I watched the Emmy show.  Maybe more changes like this would increase viewership.  Perhaps they should do away with an official host in the same way they have abandoned the corny opening musical performance.

You May Know the Way to San Jose, But Do You Know How It Was Named?

Composed in Laguna Hills, California

On a recent speaking tour in California, a friend explained to me how the various west coast cities were named.  It turns out that cities beginning with the letters "San," such as San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Fernando, San Miguel and San Jose are named after male saints.

Cites that begin with "Santa," such as Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and  Santa Clara are named after female saints.

The theme got started over 500 years ago, when a Franciscan priest named Father Junipero Serra founded a string of missions as he and his group trundled up the west coast from Mexico. Father Serra was 55 at the time his journey started. He walked with a limp, but he traveled by mule to eventually found nine of the many missions that line the California coast.

The missions are known for the rounded roof tiles and wide arches, a design that is still widely employed in the Golden State today.

One of my clients gave me a thoughtful remembrance of our time together.  The gift was the book, The Missions of California, a picture book featuring the beautiful photographs of Melba Levick with text by Stanley Young.         

Is 60 Really the New 40? The Media Maze Can Create Illusion

Posted from Royal Oak, Michigan--

Harrison Ford may still fit into his Indiana Jones pants, but that doesn't mean he's healthy.   Sixty may be the new 40, but is the media reporting everything?

Keep in mind that Ford is in the news because another Indy movie is in production, not because someone decided to inform the world that he looks young.  The media is buzzing with stories about how Ford and other aging actors like Goldie Hawn are healthy and vital.  The news is believable because these celebrities look good for their age.  The implication is that a person looks young because he or she is healthy, but how can anyone be sure if someone actually is healthy? 

Many actors like Ford and Hawn either crave privacy or want to protect their image.  They are not likely to purposely let the public know about a recurring pain in their gut or a surgical procedure.  Yet, cable television is rife with shows that feature industry "experts" talking about how healthy senior celebrities are.  Never mind the fact that these"in-the-know" correspondents have never met the people in question. 

The media wants to report legitimate news stories, but in many cases they must settle for reporting what seems to be happening or what they think is happening rather than what is actually happening.  Granted, some seniors who are the picture of health, actually are healthy, but the media's "fair and balanced" reporting often falls way short of interviewing said celebrities. 

Harrison Ford is loathe to give interviews about acting, let alone personal matters.  Obtaining information about the actor's innards is not easy.  Privacy laws like The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevent deep investigation and full reporting about individuals' health status.

This is why there's been so much postulating about Owen Wilson's condition after his alleged suicide attempt.  Wilson and his family have been quite mum on the subject.  In the absence of actual facts, the media has reported what seems to be happening. 

This is why the reporting of top secret government affairs such as the war in Iraq can be such a charade.  The government needs to publicize some of its activities and yet keep certain information secret.  The public gets to read what the government wants them to read or what the media happens to report.  More often than not, the media reports what the government tells them and editorializes the rest. 

The interesting part is that this crazy situation somehow works. 

Paramount Pictures, which is producing the new Indiana Jones movie, and Harrison Ford literally profit from stories about the actor's health, whether the stories are true or not.  The media gets to report a new angle about a well-known actor whose story has been rehashed many times.  Media consumers get to process a new stories and don't seem to mind that they are getting only part of the story.

Here's to Harrison Ford and Goldie Hawn--the pictures of health.

We Remember Schwarzenegger, But Forget About Jones

Posted from Royal Oak, Michigan--

Arthur Jones, inventor of the Nautilus exercise machine, died last month.  Celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kathy Smith get most of the credit for fitness trends, but Jones was a big hero behind the scenes. 

Arthur Jones was a master promoter who brought his idea to market just as the physical fitness boom was hitting America.

The Nautilus machine offered exercise enthusiasts an easy and effective workout without using bulky free weights.  When I'm traveling on the speaking circuit, I'm always glad to see a Nautilus machine in my hotel workout room.

A ninth grade dropout, Jones made the Forbes magazine list of the 400 richest Americans with an estimated worth of over $125 million. 

Jones sold his interest in Nautilus in 1986.  Apparently, the inventor didn't take physical fitness all that seriously when it came to taking care of himself.  Arthur Jones chain-smoked, drank coffee nearly non-stop and wasn't much interested in monitoring his food intake.

Jones was quite a character.  He was married six times.  Each woman was under 21 at the time of the marriage.  The inventor had trouble with the IRS and business partners.  He established a "fly-in" community in Ocala, Florida, whose most famous resident is John Travolta. 

By many accounts, Arthur Jones grew bitter as he aged.  According to a New York Times report, he felt that the fitness industry had not given him enough credit or respect.  Mr. Jones died at age 80.