Embedded Files
The image above of a page from The Edmonton Journal lists that The Edmonton Council for Advanced Technology was sponsoring a speech about creativity and innovation by me at the Edmonton Petroleum Club.
The image below is of an article in The Edmonton Journal announcing the opening of Festival Place in Sherwood Park with none other than Yours Truly being the opening Keynote Speaker on May. 18 1994.
The two images below are of the cover and the page listing the three keynote speakers at the International Winter Cities Conference held in Winnipeg from February 9 to 12, 1996.
It was flattering for me to be one of the keynote speakers along with Canadian legend Rick Hansen, known internationally for his "Man in Motion World Tour", and Dr. Nola-Kate Seymoar, Deputy to the President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Simultaneous translation of the keynote speeches was done in Chinese, Japanese, French, and English. The only other time I had one of my keynotes simultaneously translated was the one I did in Instanbul in 2008 that was translated into Turkish.
Above: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the heart of Istanbul that I was put up for 3 nights in an Executive Suite that overlooked the Bosphorous. Definitely the best hotel digs that I ever stayed in.
Below: This was my first flight in Air Canada's International Business Class with the Pods on my trip from Edmonton to London. I got spoiled. I refuse to fly across the Atlantic or Pacific unless I am in Business Class. I have made 6 more trips to London, England all in International Business Class.
Below: This is a photo of the hotel room that I wound up in London close to Heathrow Airport because my flight was delayed by 9 hours and I wasn't able to hook up with two friends. This was the worst hotel room I have ever stayed in.
This is the Business Card of the Vogue Restaurant that my generous host took me to on my second night in Istanbul.
Nowadays, instead of making blockbuster speeches, I do sensational Rants. If you are ever with me in person, the first rant is free. If you want to hear another one, you have pay for it. As I said before, I don't come cheap — but I'm a bargain at three times the price.
The Rant below is one I created to remember my 25 favorite songs by my favorite Rock n' Roll Band, The Rolling Stones.
The Rant below is one I created to remember my 17 favorite songs by The Beatles.
"Hey Jude." I understand your Beatlemania, but there's no need for you to say, "Help", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and no need to "Roll Over Beethoven", and no need to start a "Revolution".
Just "Because" you're a "Day Tripper" "Back in the USSR" singing "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" doesn't mean you have a "Ticket to Ride" "Eight Days a Week."
"Get Back" while "We Can Work It Out". "Here Comes the Sun" so "Come Together" and "Let It Be" and we will enjoy "Strawberry Fields Forever."
After I acquired my MBA, I had no intention of working for a corporation. (I never did like the word "teamwork" nor the two words it's derived from.) I wanted to become an instructor at a college for the freedom that the job would provide, having to only teach 16 hours a week.
After teaching at a private vocational school for 16 months, I couldn't secure a job at a community college. So I decided to become a professional speaker, giving presentations, seminars, and keynotes about creativity and innovation. That's why my first book that I wrote and self-published was The Art of Seeing Double or Better in Business, which was about the benefits of being creative and innovative.
One of the best benefits of my having been a professional speaker was that I was able to sleep diagonallly in a king-size bed on someone else's dime at swaggerific digs such as:
♥ Banff Springs, ♥ Chateau Lake Louise, ♥ Jasper Park Lodge, ♥ Kananaskis Lodge, ♥ Westin Winnipeg, ♥ Ritz-Carlton Istantul, ♥ Royal York Toronto, ♥ Pacific Palisades, Vancouver, ♥ Orlando World Center Marriott
Here are the 73 paid speeches I made over the years:
May 1990 Home-base Business Conference Red Deer, AB
1990 Company's Coming Cookbooks Edmonton, AB
1990 Capital City Savings and Credit Union Edmonton, AB
1990 Government Finance Officers of B.C. North Vancouver, B.C. Pacific Palisades Hotel)
1990 Personnel Association of Edmonton Edmonton, AB
Sept. 1990 Marketing Association of London London, ON
Sept. 1990 Pirelli Cables Ltd. Toronto, ON
Sept. 1990 Eagle Utility Sales Toronto, ON
Oct. 1990 Coop Stores of Southern Alberta Kananaskis Country, AB - Rafter 6 Ranch
Oct. 1990 Newport Marketing New Westminister, BC
Oct. 1990 Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta Lake Louise, AB - Chateau Lake Louise Hotel
Oct. 1990 University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB
Oct. 1990 Federal Business Development Bank Yorkton, SK
Oct. 1990 Insurance Women of Edmonton Edmonton, AB
Jun. 14 1991 Can Assn of Insurance Women Edmonton, AB - Plaza Hotel
Sep. 14 1991 Bolton Tremblay Financial Group Banff, AB - Banff Springs Hotel
Sep. 18 1991 Alberta Urban Municipalities Association Red Deer, AB
Sep. 26 1991 Saskatchewan Public Service Commission Regina, SK
July. 25 1991 Canadian Food Services Executives Assn Edmonton, AB
Oct. 3 1991 Searle Canada Inc Jasper Park Lodge
Feb. 20 1992 Calgary City Teachers Convention Calgary, AB
Mar. 6 1992 Greater Edmonton Teacher's Convention Assn. Edmonton Convention Cen.
Mar. 26 1992 Southern Alberta Institute Of Technology Calgary, AB
Mar. 4 1993 Canadian Institute of Actuaries Banff, AB - Banff Springs Hotel
Apr. 29 1993 BC Parks & Recreation Assn. Vancouver B.C.
Apr. 30 1993 City of Prince George Prince George, BC
May. 19 1993 Assn. of School Transportation Supervisors Vancouver B.C.
Jun. 10 1993 Certified General Accountants of BC Vancouver B.C.
Sep. 16 1993 Can Assn for Productivity & Inventory Control Vancouver B.C.
Sep. 7 1993 Canadian Cent. For Management Development Richmond, B.C.
Oct. 26 1993 Peace River & Dist. Further Education Council Peace River, AB
May. 9 1994 BC Hydro Vernon, B.C.
May. 10 1994 Procor Sulfur Services Calgary, AB - Hospitality Inn,
May. 18 1994 Festival Place, Sherwood Park – Opening - Keynote Sherwood Park, AB
Jun. 9 1994 Quaaout Lodge, Little Shuswap Lake. BC
Jun. 18 1994 Canadian Industrial Innovation Centre Toronto, ON - Stayed at the Park Plaza Hotel
Feb. 16 1994 East Kootenay Community College Cranbrook, BC
Nov. 16 1994 Federal Business Development Bank Prince George, BC
Feb. 10 1995 Canada Centre for Management Development Calgary, AB
Apr. 1 1995 Marpole Community League, Vancouver Vancouver B.C.
Apr. 7 1995 Osgoode High School, Ottawa, ON
May. 8 1995 12th Annual Alberta Services for Students Conference Lac la Biche, AB - Alberta Voc. School
May. 28 1995 Canadian Home Care Association Edmonton Convention Cen.
Nov. 17 1995 Forrest Lawn High School, Calgary, AB
Nov. 24 1995 RANS (Restaurant Assn of Nova Scotia) Annual Conference Halifax, NS
Feb. 11 1996 International Winter Cities Conference Winnipeg, MB
Feb. 13 1996 Galleria London London, ON
Apr. 24 1996 Alberta Association of Rehabilitation Centres - Edmonton - Renaissance Edmonton
Oct. 3 1996 North American Simulation and Gaming Association Ottawa, ON - Delta Ottawa
Jun. 6 1996 International Association of Business Communicators Edmonton, AB
Jan. 1997 CDI College Edmonton, AB
Aug. 21 1997 Medicine Hat College, Business & Continuing Studies Medicine Hat, AB
Oct. 21 1997 CDI College Edmonton, AB
Dec. 16 1997 Grande Prairie Regional College, Grande Prairie, AB
Jan. 6 1998 CDI College Edmonton, AB
Feb. 20 1998 Human Resources Professionals of Ontario Annual Conference Toronto, ON - Sheraton Centre
Mar. 4 1998 Alberta Family and Social Services - Presentation #1 Edmonton, AB
Mar. 5 1998 Alberta Family and Social Services - Presentation #2 Edmonton, AB
Aug. 5 1998 Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, Banff, AB - Banff Centre
Nov. 4 1998 Eight District Academy of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery Akron, OH, USA
Sep. 28 2000 Alberta Justice - Court Services - Banff, AB - Banff Centre
Jun. 23 2004 Minerva Seniors Institute, Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, AB
Nov. 26 2008 Turkish National Congress on Quality - Annual Convention Istanbul, Turkey Ritz Carlton
Oct. 15 2011 Successful Studio Strategies Langley, BC
Nov. 29 2011 City of Calgary Parks, Centre Division Calgary, AB
Mar. 6 2012 Successful Studio Strategies Langley, BC
Apr. 25 2012 DWM Securities Inc. Saskatoon, SK
Oct. 11 2013 Cardinal Capital Management Calgary, AB
Apr. 10 2017 Quantis Wealth Management Washington, D.C., USA
Apr. 18 2017 City of St. Albert (Library) St. Albert, AB
Apr. 25 2017 New York Police Union - Meeting in Queens New York, NY, USA
Jun. 28 2017 National Career Development Association Orlando, FL, USA - Sheraton Orlando
The best speaking gig I was ever hired for was in Constantinople, a place I read about when I was a kid. No other speaking gig came close to this one in the way it was received and the way I was treated. Perhaps there is something to the old Eastern Proverb: "A true prophet is often a stranger in his own land."
I received the email below in April 2008 that led to my speaking about The Joy of Not Working at the KalDer (Turkish National Congress Organization ) to around 1,200 business people, academics, students, and member of the media in Istanbul on November 25th of that year.
Although I was reluctant to go at first, this turned out to be the trip of my life. I was treated like royalty for 3 days. What a pleasant surprise! No one in North America ever treated me this well.
Below are two pages from the Kalder Convention Program
The phtotos below are of the start of my trip from Edmonton to London, England, flying International Business Class, spending a night in the worst hotel room ever, and then arriving in Istanbul and being put up in the best hotel room ever. In fact, it was an Executive Suite with a Master bedroom with a king-size bed, a living room, two washrooms, and 4 phones.
The two photos below are of the presentation center overlooking the Fraser River that Sam Beckford in Langley, B.C. built and at which I made a presentation about The Joy of Not Working on two different ocassions (October 15, 2011 and March 15, 2012). Sam learned about my book after seeing an espisode of CBC TV's entrepreneurial program Venture on May 8, 1995. (The night the program aired was the night I was making a presentation at Lakeland College in Lac la Biche.)
Sam claims that after he purchased The Joy of Not Working and read it, he had a paradigm shift that resulted in his wife and him reducing their working 60 to 80 hours a week at their dance studios to working only 25 to 30 hours a week. Sam later started giving seminars to dance studio operaters from across North America on how to reduce their working hours and become more prosperous at the same time.
The last keynote speech I made was about The Joy of Not Working at the 2017 NCDA Global Career Development Conference in Orlando, FL. (You can see a PDF of the Powerpoint Presentation that I used by going to the NCDA link.)
I received an email from David Reile, PhD, the 2016-2017 President of the American National Career Development Assciation, asking me if I would consider making a keynote speech about The Joy of Not Working at their annual convention to be held in Orlando, FL. The theme of their conference that year was THE JOY OF WORKING — POSITIVE APPROACHES TO WORK, CAREER, AND LIFE. But David Reile's wife had read my signature book, loved it, and thought it would be a great topic to add to all the other topics about the joy of working.
I was somewhat hesitant to go. But I had always wanted to attend the Montreal Jazz and Blues Festival. As it turned out, the festival was happening at the time. This was perfect. I arranged to fly from Edmonton to Orlando through Montreal, and then stop in Montreal on the way home for two nights to take in some great blues music, including Buddy Guy and Charlie Musselwhite. Of course, I requested that NCDA pay for a business class round trip.
I titled my keynote The Joy of Not Working: Living Life the Way It Was Meant to Be Lived. I was somewhat nervous to be making a keynote to an organization that claimed over two-thirds of its members had either Masters or PhD degrees. In fact, I was terrified — even more so than when I made the keynote speech about TJONW in Istanbul.
The photo below is of the room in which I made my last speech. I checked out the room the two nights before my keynote and the idea that I would be speaking to so many people in such a larger room made me want to pack up and go home. But the next day I listened to the keynote presentation that made by three individuals with PhDs. Their presentation was very mediocre. It was then that I became confident that I would do okay.
The
Check out the PDF of the Powerpoint Presentation that I for my keynote speech by going at the 2017 NCDA Global Career Development Conference and you will see that I ended with the key takeaway, which was that both The Joy of Working and The Joy of NOT Working are all about Making a Difference.
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