Rulon Gardner Named #2 Greatest Individual Sports Upset Ever by Fox Sports

In these tough economic times, wouldn’t it be great to get someone who has done the impossible to motivate your employees? To get them to push past the bleak financial news, the layoffs, the increased workloads and really do something great for your company?

Motivational speaker and Olympic Gold Medalist Rulon Gardner was just named #2 on a Fox Sports list of Top 10 Greatest Individual Sports Upsets Ever–he might be the guy you’re looking for. He was listed behind Buster Douglas and aheah of Yang–who just upset Tiger Woods. Yes, THAT, Tiger Woods.

What makes Gardner’s story so great? Well, for starters, he won a Gold Medal. A pretty amazing achievement in its own right, but when you consider that he won that Gold Medal against 3-time Gold Medalist Alexander Karelin–who had not been defeated in international competition in 13 years, who was nicknamed “the Siberian Tiger,” “the Russian Bear,” “King Kong,” and, my personal favorite, “the Experiment” for his powerfully muscled physique and punishing wrestling style (his signature move was to throw opponents on their head–risking neck and spinal fractures). Still not convinced that this was a David v. Goliath worthy matchup? Gardner grew up on a dairy farm, didn’t win a high school wrestling match in his tiny WY town until his senior year and was shaped like a teddy bear.

Ready to make that booking? Send me an email at DanielleMarquis@marquisathletes.com. Mention you saw this blog post, and I’ll give you a 20% discount.

-Danielle, Owner & Sports Agent, Marquis Athletes, LLC

Saving Money on Motivational Speakers

It’s no secret the economy still isn’t doing well, but I have some ways you can save money on motivational speakers–those I represent, and those you may be considering booking through other bureaus or agents.

• Event Combining-Did you know that we (and many other speakers) offer reduced rates on additional events when a speaker is already in your area? With us, you not only save on travel expenses (in many cases you’ll just be responsible for ground transportation from the last event to yours), but we also book additional events at 50% off if our speaker doesn’t need to stay any additional days to complete your event. Wondering when our speakers will be in your area? Visit our website and check out the client calendar.
• Multiple Event Contracts-If your company, non-profit or school has multiple events coming up where you’d like our speaker, let us know. We’ll negotiate a lower cost per event in return for the guaranteed business. Examples of past ways we’ve made this work for customers is to do multiple corporate events all over the country for one company, do multiple community events all over the country for one major company within an industry looking to get its name out to this target audience, do multiple events on behalf of a parent non-profit organization for its local branches and do a week’s work of school speeches throughout an entire district.
• Virtual Meetings & School Assemblies-Imagine how much money you could save by not flying all of your employees out for a meeting, then paying for their hotel rooms and meals. Our speakers are available for virtual meetings–from your corporate headquarters or their home office. Employees can listen in via conference call or see the event via web conferencing. Conferences may be saved and viewed at the employees leisure, so as not to lose productivity. Ditto for school assemblies–many school districts are cutting back assemblies altogether in an effort to save money. By using this technology, schools can have speakers piped into classrooms when it’s convenient for teachers, thereby saving money and time, but still giving their students the benefits of speakers.

Why You Should Hire Motivational Speakers (even when the economy isn’t doing so well)

Listen, the economy isn’t doing very well right now. I understand. I see the doom and gloom on the news every night, just like you do. You’re probably having a hard time rationalizing why you should spend the money on a top motivational speaker right now–fair enough. We’re all cutting back.

But here’s the thing–at times like these, when the economy isn’t doing well, when your employees are worried about hitting sales targets, these are the times you NEED a motivational speaker. You need someone who can fire up your team, who can inspire with tales of how they overcame adversity. This investment now will pay big dividends for your company’s financial well-being, as well as for your employee’s morale.

Plus, I’m running all sorts of specials right now to lure customers in…just send me an email (DanielleMarquis@marquisathletes.com) and mention that you heard about the specials on this blog, or sign up for our newsletter on the website.

Olympic Themed Corporate Events

You’re the meeting planner for your company–or someone who has never planned a meeting before, but suddenly this role was thrust upon you–and you have a corporate event planned…now all you need is a venue, a theme and a motivational speaker. Freaking out?! I can’t help you with the venue part, but I can help you with the theme and the motivational speaker part.

Since 2008 is an Olympic year, how about an Olympic theme? The Beijing Games recently ended and the Olympics are foremost in everyone’s mind–especially since it was some of the first new programming to hit the TV in months due to the writer’s strike. With all the themes of goal-setting and achievement the Olympics embody, this is a great theme for a corporate event. You could bring in an Olympic speaker (like Olympic Gold and Bronze Medalist Rulon Gardner), set up 5 breakout groups to work on specific skill sets (to coincide with the 5 Olympic rings, get it?!), even do a fun team building event (i.e., The Corporate Olympics). We’ve had past customers do team boat races (with one team–who had performed the best in the earlier breakout sessions–winning the right to have the Olympian speaker on their team!) and team bicycle assembly competitions (the bikes were then donated to a local charity). Since the Olympics were in Beijing this past summer, you could have your meeting catered with Chinese food.

Has your company done an Olympic Themed Corporate Event in the past? What did you do? What worked, what didn’t? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Do Your Clients Ever Do Free Events?

“Hi, my name is John Doe and I’m calling from XYZ. We’re a non-profit/small corporation/school group and we were wondering, do your clients ever do events for free?”

 I get some variation of this phone call several times per day, and the short answer is, “No.” All of our clients are professional motivational speakers, and they have retired from the professional sport they participated in. Speaking is their job, so they charge for it. We have speakers in a variety of fee ranges and certain speakers offer reduced-fee speeches for schools, community groups, etc. but we do not offer free events. Our speakers are excellent and you won’t be disappointed! They are worth every penny they charge.

Would Your High School Athletes Like To “Train With Shane”?

Imagine bringing in an Olympian to train the high school athletes at your school? Olympic weightlifter and Pan Am Games Gold Medalist, Shane Hamman is considered the “Strongest Man in
America” and he is available for weightlifting training sessions with high school athletes in conjunction with his school speeches. Let Shane show your athletes how to make the most out of gym time, increasing speed and power in between sports seasons, or just before practice. This upgrade is available for $500 when a school books a standard school speech for $2,000 plus travel expenses.

How To Hire The Right Corporate Speaker

Hiring corporate speakers can be a gamble—it’s expensive, and you don’t always know whether it will work. But, the right speaker combined with the right corporate program is a powerful combination. Choose wisely and your employees will leave the speech inspired, not scratching their heads, wondering what you were thinking wasting their valuable time. Here are some tips to make sure you choose the right corporate speaker:

 

1.      Open the lines of communication between your audience (i.e., staff, management, consumers, etc.) and your event planner, as well as between your event planner and your corporate speaker. Often an audience will feel a speaker missed the mark when the speaker was simply a poor fit for the audience. This is an internal branding issue that can be avoided by listening to what your audience wants and what your speaker delivers.

a.       Does your audience need a motivational speaker to give a pep talk or a technical speaker to explain your latest product’s niche in the marketplace?

2.      Don’t work backwards from the date of the company’s annual meeting to find the first speaker within your budget who is available. Instead, plan ahead. Figure out what your company is doing right, what it’s doing wrong and what you want to improve on going into your function. Then, find an expert on your topic that meets those goals.

3.      Once you’ve identified your goals and found a speaker who can work within them, do your due diligence. Talk with the speaker (or their representative), ask whatever questions you have, request marketing materials and a sample speech DVD, ask for references and talk with them. Ask the speaker what their strong point is (they will know and they will tell you! If you look at any past customer testimonials, they will probably repeat the same things over and over as well.) As with any major purchase, this due diligence should separate the true professionals from the folks you will waste money on.

4.      Don’t dismiss a speaker simply because they don’t have a ton of experience! Everyone has to start somewhere, and speakers who are relatively new to the circuit often have discounted prices. As long as the speaker checks out when you do your due diligence, you should have nothing to worry about.

5.      Once you’ve selected a speaker, figure out approximately what their total cost will be. This may not be possible with all speakers, especially if your event is far in advance, but most should be able to give you a rough estimate. Do they require first class travel or coach? For one person or two? Where do they live? What happens if they’re going from your event to another? Do you split travel expenses with the other group?

6.      During your event, carefully monitor the reactions and impressions of the audience. Is the speaker engaging and including the audience? How is the audience reacting to the speaker? Are members of the audience nodding, giving responses to questions, laughing? Does the speaker span the audience and make eye contact with the group? Is the audience fully alert and attentive to the speaker? What do you personally think of the speaker? Is the speaker meeting the criteria you established? Is the discussion easy to follow and effective?

Environment Themed Assembly Tie-Ins (Lesson Plan Suggestions)

1. English: Read the speaker’s book on the subject about his adventures in various places around the world; Assign essay for students where they write about their own adventures (urban or in the wilderness) as a creative piece and also assign process type essay where students must write about HOW to do part of their adventure (i.e., how to rock climb) and a technical essay about an environmental concern discussed in science class, etc. Lead group discussion about how these three writing styles are different, who prefers and excels at which ones, why that is, etc.
2. Science: Watch “An Inconvenient Truth” with students and discuss the science discussed in the movie, how that relates to what has been learned thus far in class, etc. Have students research your town’s specific environmental issues, break into groups assigned to each issue, then have each group tackle explaining the “science” behind each issue to the average person as a means of persuasion, video each segment.
3. Math: Calculate the distance, wind speeds, etc. encountered while speaker was on various expeditions (i.e., sea kayaking, dog sledding, etc.)
4. Health: Discuss diets of top level athletes living in extreme environments while on expedition (how is this different from elite athletes under normal conditions? What role does it play to know you have to carry that food with you or obtain it en route)
5. History: Read speaker’s book about Kennewick Man and his beliefs on the theory surrounding wanderlust v. survival
6. Art: Work on technical drawings to illustrate local environmental problems studied in Science class, to illustrate own adventures worked on in English class.
7. Music: Listen to different music favored by athletes in athletic pursuits. Discuss why would choose some for more intense activities, others for more mentally challenging sports. What is it about each song that helps one way or the other? Why don’t some songs work? What would be your Ipod Playlist for your adventure written about in English class?
8. Physical Education: Put together supplies for own expedition and complete in class over the course of a month (include planning time, training time, packing time, expedition time)

 

Marquis Athletes client Jon Turk is a Ph.D in Chemistry who writes Earth Science and Environmental textbooks, adventure travel books and has also completed expeditions such as sea kayaking around Cape Horn, sea kayaking from Japan to Alaska, mountain biking across the Mongolian Gobi and Dog Sledding along Baffin Island, among others. Jon is available for school speeches about Fear Management and the fee is $2,000 plus travel. Jon also offers “add-ons” which include guest lectures in science and English classes (creative and technical writing), as well as retreats for students which include the fusion of Fear Management lectures, educational lectures and/or guided expeditions of varying skill levels.

Olympic Themed Assembly Tie-Ins (Lesson Plan Suggestions)

What follows is a list of ideas to use as “tie-ins” should you choose an Olympic themed assembly for your school. These ideas can be simplified or made more complicated, depending on your grade level(s). These ideas are meant to get your creativity flowing, when you come up with your own ideas, please share them in the comments so that others may benefit!

1. English Class: Read the Olympic speaker’s book as a class and organize a “book club” type discussion about what they’ve read when they’re done reading, OR, assign a book report or essay on the speaker’s book, OR, divide the students into groups and have them re-enact different chapters of the book for the rest of the class

2. Science Class: Present material on and discuss the physiological changes in the human body while competing at the Olympic level (i.e., how are the muscle fibers of sprinters different than the muscle fibers of long distance runners); Work on physics equations relating to athlete motion; Try to have your students explain through research and presentations how an athlete was able to survive a near death experience

3. Math Class: Give the students word problems or equations to complete that make math “real” by putting it in the context of athletes (i.e., what was the speed of the sprinter? How many calories would the athlete need to consume to gain/lose a specific amount of weight for a weight-class sport? etc.)

4. Health Class: Discuss the different types of diets athletes eat, and how they are nutritionally different based on the different goals (i.e., lose weight v. gain weight v. gain muscle)

5. History Class: Discuss the Greek origins of the Olympic Games, and compare that to the Games we have today (Is there still a political aspect? How so? How have countries “at war” interacted at various Olympic Games (if at all)? etc.)

6. Art Class: Discuss the art and architecture that has been an integral part of the Olympic Games since their inception; Have students complete projects that would be suitable for inclusion in modern Olympic Games (i.e., design Olympic fashions for athletes to wear that are functional and fashionable; design athletic facilities that are functional and uniquely beautiful; design athlete fine art, etc.)

7. Music Class: Explore music’s roll in Olympic Games past and present; Encourage students to perform instrumental and/or vocal pieces from past Olympic Games or to compose their own

8. Physical Education: Stage a mini-Olympics for students

Marquis Athletes’ Olympian clients available for school events include Olympic Gold and Bronze Medalist Rulon Gardner (Greco-Roman Wrestling) and Olympic Weightlifter Shane Hamman. Both clients are available for school speeches for elementary, middle and high school students. The fee is $2,000 plus travel expenses. Rulon books one school event per week, Monday through Thursday only, but Shane does not have restrictions on his school bookings.

Elementary, Middle and High School Assemblies: Some Advice

You’re a teacher or school administrator and someone just said to you, “It’s your turn to plan the school assembly.” You begin to sweat. You get a lump in your throat. All you can think about is how much you DO NOT want to do this. Relax! It can be fun, you can become the school hero and your students may (GASP!) actually get something out of YOUR assembly besides a free period in which they will pass notes and chit chat.

We all remember school assemblies from when we were kids. Mainly because they were so bad.  The only one I remember from K-12th Grade was in 4th Grade when this group came in and rapped about not doing drugs. They had lockers as part of their set and all I can remember thinking was, “OHMYGOODNESS! That set looks like High School. This must be an assembly for HIGHSCHOOLERSOHMYGOODNESS! They think we’re old enough for this so very adult message they are rapping about in front of lockers. ILOVETHIS.” I think I talked about that assembly for the next month to any adult who would listen. You know, because I was basically an adult for hearing their message. And, I think it worked. All that rapping about not smoking and doing drugs resulted in me marching over to my Granparent’s house and proclaiming to my Grandpa the smoker “You shouldn’t smoke anymore. It’s bad for you. You’ll die. I don’t want you to die.” And he quit. Right then and there. Years later, as an adult, he told me that no matter how many times my Grandmother and Dad had told him the same thing, hearing about the evils of smoking from his 10 year old granddaughter who had just seen an assembly was the only thing that ever made him want to quit. Wild. All of this family history mumbojumbo brings me to my point–school assemblies can be a complete waste of student and teacher time and a complete drain of school resources, OR, they can be great. They can be the type of event that inspires students to be better. To do better. The latter is the type of event you want for your students, right? Well, stop freaking out about planning your assembly and read on…

1. Plan Ahead. First, you will need to come up with an overarching theme for your assembly. This will dictate who you bring in, what you have the other teachers do with their students in advance, and any partner organizations or events that will work. It will also give you a starting point.

2. Develop Tie-Ins. Your assembly will automatically capture the student’s attention if they are ready for it. By developing tie-ins for teachers in other classes to do in anticipation of your assemly, you will be helping your co-workers out and priming the students for your event. For example, say you chose “The Olympics” as your theme. About 1 month before the assembly, distribute lesson plan suggestions to the teachers based on this theme and your chosen speaker.

3. Plan Student Participation. Now that your students are excited about your assembly, because they have been learning about it all month, plan to have them participate. You can do this by having students submit subject-related questions in each class (i.e., Student come up with science type questions while in science class), then having the teachers select a few questions for the students to ask the speaker during the Q&A portion of the assembly. This way the questions are pre-screened, well thought out and the speaker isn’t asked the same question over and over. You may also want to ask your speaker if they do any demonstrations during their presentation, and if so, what kind. This way you can pre-select students to be part of the assembly (i.e., say you have an Olympic Gold Medalist in Wrestling presenting at your Olympic-themed assembly. He tells you he uses a student to demonstrate some basic wrestling moves. You select the student from the school’s wrestling team with the highest average in school or the best record in wrestling to participate in the demo.).

4. Think Outside the Auditorium. Now that you have your theme and the students have been learning about your theme and speaker all month, you aren’t really planning to end it all with the assembly, are you?! You’ve paid money to get the speaker there and done lots of work, so you should add on additional events if you can. Many speakers have upgrade fees which are less than their base rate, which means you can get multiple events for not much more budget. For example, some speakers are experts in fields other than why you brought them into the school (i.e., the Olympic Gold Medalist who is also a licensed PE Teacher, the Adventurer who is a published author of novels and science textbooks, etc.). How cool would it be to have the speaker teach a class or two in addition to the assembly? Another option is to have them conduct a clinic for your school’s athletes in their sport if they are an athlete. The speaker may even be available to lead a retreat for your Seniors!

5. Partner With Others. Is your school in a remote area? Far from the nearest major aiport? If so, maybe there are other groups in your town that could benefit from your speaker’s services. Maybe a local charity or community group is planning a fundraiser and needs a speaker for their community event. Maybe the Elementary schools in town would be interested in hosting your speaker for additional events. Perhaps a local business is planning an event for their staff and would love to have your speaker stop by. The local bookstore may want the speaker to come in for a booksigning. Spread the word, you never know who might be available to split costs with you (and may be very excited to plan the speaker’s travel, etc. as a “thank you” for making their job easier!)

6. Find The Money. Let’s face it. Bringing in a speaker for your assembly is not going to be free. You’ll have to pay a speaking fee and travel expenses, and you may not have been given a large budget to plan this event. This is where you need to get creative! First, figure out how much (if any) money is in your budget for this assembly. Second, after you have selected a theme for your assembly, begin contacting various speakers to see what they charge. Be sure to ask for an estimate of travel expenses. Figure out exactly how much you’re short. Third, think about other budgets you can tap. Say your speaker happens to be a Ph.D. in Chemistry and your Science teachers are interested in having him guest lecture a class. See what the upgrade fee is to add another event, and see how much money the Science department has to contribute. Maybe your speaker has a sports background and can conduct a clinic for your school’s athletes. Talk to the coaches and see how much money they have in their budget. Talk to the booster clubs for the various sports and see if they’d be interested in sponsoring your speaker. Talk to parents. Maybe one of them is a fan and will contribute some money. Fourth, talk to local businesses. Maybe they’ll give you an outright sponsorship, maybe they’ll be interested in booking the speaker to come to their business and they can share the fee with you. And, finally, attempt to book multiple events with the speaker during the same trip. As I mentioned previously, many speakers charge significantly less to add an event than they charge for the first event. You can split the total cost of bringing the speaker to town between all the different events, and split travel costs as well.

I hope your assembly planning goes well and is FUN! Feel free to post comments if you have any questions, and I will be happy to address them.

The following Marquis Athletes clients are available for school and community events: Rulon Gardner, Shane Hamman and Jon Turk. School and community events are $2,000 plus travel expenses (air, ground, hotel, parking and food), and each additional event is $1,000 extra. Rulon does one low-fee school/community event per week, booked Monday through Thursday only. Shane and Jon do not have limits on the school/community events they will do.