Speakers Deliver Pep for Businesses

Finding that one great line or the proverbial lesson in life that will become entrenched in an audience’s mind is what every speaker aspires to accomplish.

Finding that speaker who can pull off a believable and inspirational performance is what an organizer prays, and sometimes pays, to accomplish.

On Jan. 6, Athletic World Advertising President and CEO Gregg Ogden pulled off such a feat.

Ogden gave his employees their regular Monday morning pep talk. Sales were already off to a blazing start that morning, but Ogden wanted to throw gasoline on the fire.

After the lunch break, a barrel of high octane fuel walked into AWA’s Fayetteville headquarters.

Frank Broyles, athletic director at the University of Arkansas, gave what Ogden called a classic locker-room speech to AWA’s employees.

“It made me want to run over and get on the phone and sell,” Ogden said. “He told us, ‘You’re the No.1 company of your kind. Be proud of your accomplishments, but don’t ever stop pushing. The hardest thing to do is to stay No.1 because everybody will be coming at you. Be positive. Look what just happened to Miami [losing to Ohio State in the NCAA championship game and ending a 34-game win streak].’ That had just happened a couple of days earlier. His enthusiasm was unbelievable. Everybody just rushed back to their phone and we smashed our record that day.”

The speech had a lingering effect as AWA enjoyed a 437 percent increase in sales for the first two weeks of 2003 to $1.32 million, compared with $245,083 during the same period of 2001.

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we

recommend it daily.” — Zig Ziglar

Broyles, known for being one of the state’s best orators, recalled the speech.

“Yeah, I was warmed up,” he said. “Sometimes I get evangelistic.”

Broyles said he doesn’t take speaking fees from people in Arkansas unless it’s for expenses. “I’m not in the speaking business to make money,” he said.

He’s also not officially on the speaking circuit, and because their chapters are too numerous to accommodate he does not speak to civic groups throughout the state. Broyles is on AWA’s board of directors and has only done about a half-dozen corporate speaking engagements in recent years.

Cost vs. Results

Some highly sought speakers command six-figure fees for their services. But according to a 2001 membership survey conducted by the National Speakers Association, only about 2.6 percent of the group’s membership charges more than $10,000 for a keynote speaking engagement. About 70 percent of the Tempe, Ariz., organization’s members charge $1,001-$10,000 with the bulk of those (26.5 percent) falling in the $5,001-$10,000 range.

About 53 percent of the 4,000-member group said they raised their fees in 2001.

Former President Bill Clinton’s speaking fee is reportedly $100,000-$150,000.

“A speaker who can move you to another level, challenge you in your life and inspire you to excel in a certain task, effort, or lifestyle is definitely a motivational speaker,” said Ronnie Floyd, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale and The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers.

“A great speaker is one who engages his audience, moving them to lifestyle change. Good speeches and speakers are a dime a dozen, but great speakers are only great if they can affect change in the lives of those who hear them. This only happens to the level that what the speaker shares has been internalized and lived out before being shared.”

“Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.”

— Lou Holtz

Speakers at The Summit Northwest Arkansas Business Luncheons — held 24 Thursdays annually at the Pinnacle Hills location — are usually given a “thought gift,” said Floyd, who organizes the series.

“[Speakers] in this region realize that The Summit may now be the most important business platform in this region,” Floyd said. “Speakers who are from outside of our region are compensated in line with what is affordable to us.”

Presence makes perfect

Former Fayetteville High School and University of Arkansas basketball player Jimmy Dykes, who went on to be an assistant for Eddie Sutton at Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State, is in his ninth season as a college basketball commentator for ESPN television. This season, Dykes will participate in 51 ESPN live telecasts.

Dykes said he personally negotiates every one of his speaking engagements and declined to disclose his fee range.

Dykes was recently the guest speaker at The Summit. He combined humorous stories of his less-than-stellar playing career along with how championship coaches such as Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight prepare their team, all while incorporating his personal religious experiences.

“I think what’s really neat about my job is that I can talk to college kids all over the country and immediately have their attention because some of them are watching ESPN 24 hours a day,” Dykes said. “That’s especially true in the western part of the country where most of my games are. The platform I have in working with ESPN … I try to use it more than for just my career.”

“What we see depends

mainly on what we look for.”

— Sir John Lubbock

Regardless of the message, Dykes said there is a common denominator that is vital to any speech.

“I think the most important part of any speech ever given is in the presentation,” he said. “I’ve heard a ton of motivational speeches, and I’ve listened to a ton on tape. In the first minute or 90 seconds, if a person is not keeping my attention I just tune ’em out. It’s all about your presence and how you carry yourself. To have a strong voice is sometimes more important than what you actually say.

“We have a seminar every year at ESPN and they always talk about your on-camera presence. They bring in an expert that tells you the most important thing is your presence.”

“We promise according to

our hopes and perform

according to our fears.”

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Floyd is in the business of motivational speaking every time he steps up to the pulpit to preach. But he also hosts The Summit luncheons for the business community.

“I have a great passion to assist people in the business world because this is the place of great struggle as well as fulfillment for people,” Floyd said.

Upcoming speakers at The Summit in the spring season include Buddy Pilgrim, CEO of Simmons Foods and the CEO and founder/president of Integrity Leadership; Barron Witherspoon of Procter & Gamble; Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Johnelle Hunt, cofounder of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and UA Chancellor John White.

Some of the area’s popular speakers include Coleman Peterson, executive vice president of Wal-Mart’s People Division, Rogers Mayor Steve Womack, UA football coach Houston Nutt and Arvest Bank-Rogers Executive Vice President Dick Trammel.

Ogden called Peterson “a dynamic personality … the kind of person you want to be around. His personality is infectious. He infects you with his enthusiasm.”

Just as Floyd must do each week at his church, Ogden must motivate his employees daily at AWA.

“That’s what you do as a CEO,” Ogden said, “especially when have a sales organization.”

Matt Mawby, vice president, general manager and part owner of Professional Business Systems in Rogers, sends his sales staff all around the country to seminars with motivational speakers. But last year Mawby attended the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics at John Brown University in Siloam Springs and discovered he could get quality lessons for his sales people right in Northwest Arkansas.

“Don Soderquist is an insightful person to listen to,” Mawby said. “You have the ability to stand there and watch an extremely wealthy man who once ran the world’s largest company [Wal-Mart] and have him tell of his travels and what’s important to him. That’s powerful.”

“History will be kind to me

for I intend to write it.”

— Winston Churchill

Broyles tries making his speeches as personal as possible and uses sports analogies in almost every illustration he tries to make.

“I’m not an expert on motivation,” Broyles said. “I read a lot of books, but I don’t have a set speech that I give everywhere. I adjust it to the situation. I don’t follow what the experts would say because I can’t remember them anyway. I just do it from the heart. I take the approach that you give them the ammunition to do it.”

Often, humor is used in motivational speeches whether the listeners are businesspeople, employees or members of a church’s congregation. But Floyd, whose ministry includes a television audience on cable giant WGN and a worldwide Internet audience, warns that a speaker must know when and how much humor should be included.

“Humor should be natural, not forced,” Floyd said. “If a person is prone and gifted to joke-telling, then cool. If he is humorous in the flow, then that is fine as well.”