President's Report

One day an old couple walked into a fast-food restaurant.  The husband went up to the counter and ordered one hamburger, a small fry, and a drink.

A younger man who was sitting at a nearby table observed this and felt bad for the couple.  Assuming they had little money, he approached the couple and offered to purchase them additional food.  The old man thanked the observer, but denied the offer stating that they share everything.    

After the younger man returned to his seat, he watched as the old man cut the hamburger in half, giving half to himself and half to his wife.  He then counted out the fries and split them in half.  The man started to eat his portion, while his wife watched.

Slightly outraged, the younger observer approached the couple once more and offered to help.  This time the wife spoke up.  “Sonny, we’ve been married for a long time.  We have learned to share everything.  I’m simply waiting for the teeth!”

One of the reasons I continue to be a member of NSA Minnesota is how generous everyone is.  From my first chapter meeting seven years ago, to a conversation I had last week, everyone is so willing to help.  Whether I’ve had questions on marketing, writing a book, negotiating, content, or anything else that we frequently come across as speakers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and authors, people in this chapter have been so willing to share with me their knowledge, expertise, and experience.  This is a true expression of #speakersservingspeakers. 

Therefore, let us continue to share.  Let us reach out, ask questions, and support those with less experience with you.  Share your wisdom, share your thoughts, and share your encouragement…just don’t share your dentures!

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NSA MN Chapter Meeting

It’s hard to believe, but our final chapter meeting is just around the corner.  Join us Friday, April 11^th as we listen and learn from the great Greg Williams.  Greg will help us with something that we all need – the ability to negotiate well.  For many of us, talking about costs and finalizing a contract is the most dreaded part of this business.  Greg will help us make that part of our business easier.  Register here. 

While this will be our last regular chapter meeting, you can definitely stay connected and learn from each other with our weekly Speaker Boost.  This is a virtual connection point for people who want to make a difference with their words, both members of NSA Minnesota and guests.  If interested, check out our events page and register.  It’s free! 

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A Deep Dive on Training

In NSA, we are here to support speakers, facilitators, coaches, authors, trainers, and anyone else wanting to have an impact on this world through your word.  However, most of our conversation tends to be around the stage…how to get keynotes and how to give keynotes.  While this helps many of us, there often is more to our potential impact than keynotes.  Thus, on Friday, May 16th I’ll be hosting a session on training.  More than half of my business income is generated through training and I’ve learned a lot over the past 8 years.  In this session, I hope to share with you a model of training, how you can market your training, different packages you can create to sell your training, and how to create solid content with interactive activities to ensure your participants learn well.  Register now for this special deep dive entitled “Beyond Applause: Creating sustainable income and impact through training” by clicking here. 

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NSA Minnesota's 2025 Annual Gala

Mark your calendars for a chance to dress up and celebrate with your NSA Minnesota friends.  Our annual gala will be held on June 5th at the Minneapolis Club.  Several awards will be given, a nice dinner will be served, and we’ll have a great time connecting with each other during this black-tie event.  We’ll start at 6:00 PM and go until about 9:00 PM and we are excited to announce that Larry Long jr will be our emcee!  Registration will be available on our website soon. 

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Vote for Board Members Now

Every year around this time we have the opportunity to vote in our new board.  Four of our board members are running for re-election and we have 6 additional candidates running for the board.  Please, if you haven’t already, take some time to read their bios and why they’d like to be a board member here.  Then, choose the 7 that you think would best fit for our board and vote.  We appreciate hearing your voice!

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Celebrations

Many of you know our long-time member David McNally.  He’s been a pillar in our community for decades.  After losing his wife Cheryl to Alzheimer's, he chose to write a book.  He published If You're Alive, Your Mission on Earth Isn't Finished Yet late last year and it is an excellent read.  Proceeds go to support the non-profit Compassion and Choices.  Recently, our very own broadcaster, Joe Schmidt sat down with David and conducted a fascinating interview.  Watch it here.  Congrats on such a great book David!

Speaking of Joe Schmit, watch out.  After 6 decades of broadcasting, Joe is retiring from sports broadcasting.  That means he’ll be ramping up his speaking, his book writing, his stage writing, and his time with kids/grandkids.  Congrats Joe and we can’t wait to see what this next chapter will bring in your life!

While I’m on the subject of long-time members who have recently accomplished something worth celebrating, let’s us all give a congratulations to Manny Steil for his new book Effective Listening Everyday.  Manny is the expert on listening and this fun book gives you 365 readings so that you can improve you listing every day for the next year.  Check it out here. 

Huge shoutout to Tom Guetzke who has just been awarded the Alumni Achievement Award from St. John’s University.  Tom had tremendous success in leading in the corporate world previous to becoming a speaker.  Today, his decades of impact through speaking and writing has made him an expert in the science of happiness, where he continues educate and inspire audiences.  Congrats Tom on this amazing award.

If you know of someone who should be celebrated, or if you’ve done something worth celebrating, please send me a short description [email protected]. 

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Your 2024-2025 Leadership Team

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