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Hey, it’s Brad Montgomery with another killer idea that you can steal to make your meeting even more epic than you had planned. All right, so here’s the premise: the premise is you’ve got to kick your meeting off hard. It’s got to be awesome. You got to get people engaged and energized. You want them moving and you want them enthusiastic. That’s the first thing. Second thing is occasionally you need to thank people and recognize people, and even though that’s important, it’s not always fun, is it? No.

So I just did this event and this vice president started this meeting off in a way that she gave to me and now I’m giving to you. First thing she did is she just said, “Hi. If you trust me, raise your hand.” That’s the first part of the meeting. If you trust me, raise your hand. All right, if you have your hands up, stand up. Come on, you said you trusted me. If you trust me, stand up. She’s got them right? Who can say no? She’s got 500 people instantly on their feet. She says, “If you trust me, turn your back on me and face the back of the room.” Five hundred people faced the back of the room, and she says, “Now give a well deserved round of applause, a standing ovation to the meeting planner and her team for pulling this meeting off. Give it up.” And they went crazy. “All right, come on back,” and they sat down, and she started the meeting right then.motivational speaker

In 20 seconds, what did she do? First, she recognized her meeting planning staff, which is crucial, right? That’s important, but not always super fun. And second, she got engagement and response and motion and energy and volume, all of those things that we really want so quickly, so effectively, so efficiently, and in a way that was really meaningful. That’s a great idea, isn’t it? You should steal that. It is great.

My name’s Brad Montgomery. I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I’m telling you, most of my great ideas have come either because I’ve messed it up so many times and finally figured it out, or somebody like this showed me how to do it. If you’re looking for more ideas about how to make your meeting or convention epic, if you’re looking for more ideas that have worked well elsewhere and you can borrow, hit subscribe and we’ll get them to you right away. Thanks for being here. My name’s Brad Montgomery. If you’re looking for a motivational speaker, a business speaker, of course call me. Thanks.

That’s it. If you like it, click subscribe. We’ll get you more about meetings and conventions, how to get the most out of your speaker. Share this, would you? Would you do me a favor and share this with your social networks, print it out, tape it on your refrigerator? You can’t do that. Don’t even try.

The Washington Post reported that AIG went through with a convention for their top earners.

Lawmakers fumed last week when they learned that the company paid $440,000 for a week-long resort retreat in California for top-performing insurance agents. The expenditure occurred just days after Sept. 16, when the government announced its $85 billion loan. This month, as AIG asked for an additional $38 billion in taxpayer financing, top AIG executives spent thousands on a hunting trip in England.

I cannot help to think that they must have had one speaker for that event.  Reward trips often hire motivational speakers and humorists…so it certainly is possible that one was hired for this event.

So the big ethics question for you is:

Imagine YOU were hired by AIG.  You see them go out of business…and be rescued with $85 Billion taxpayer dollars.  You know now that you are no longer being paid by AIG, but the taxpayers via AIG.   Would you take the job?

Theoretically you’ve had this keynote on the books for some time, you have turned down other clients who wanted to hire you as a motivational speaker, and because you’ve done everything you have been asked to do, you deserve the fee for you speakers services.

But now that it’s a taxpayer nightmare and Wall Street scandal, would you take the job?

Would ya?

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