November 13, 2008
Yesterday we had an amazing GET MOTIVATED Seminar for 20,000 business people in Kansas City. What’s it like to produce such an event? Wonder no longer! Here’s a blog-umentary that chronicles the day’s festivities.
5:00 a.m. - I awake and look at the clock… Good! I’ve got another hour to sleep! I roll over. Wait. It’s seminar day. Where am I? Kansas City. Okay, it’s seminar day, but I can still sleep for another hour. Sleep… Sleep...
5:15- I look at the clock again. Just close your eyes. You can still sleep for 45 minutes! Ugh! It’s no use. Seminar day is just too exciting! I get up, dress, check email, and look over the day’s schedule. On the local news, television reporters are advising commuters about our event and bracing them for the traffic that is pouring into the downtown area.
6:45- As I’m waiting for the hotel elevator, I look out the window and see Get Motivated gridlock on the highway as far as the eye can see! Once in the lobby I spot our senior vice president, Brian Forte (who also happens to be my genius little brother) and Krish Dhanam, one of our morning speakers, having breakfast. I join them for coffee.
7:45 I arrive at the Sprint Center and am taken to my backstage holding room. Since I spend so much time in windowless arenas my room is laced with a few girly indulgences: candles, iPod speaker, electric foot massager, and a cashmere blanket on the loveseat. And of course there are the necessary electronics—portable printer, walkie-talkie to communicate with my staff, countdown clock linked to the stage clock so I can see how many minutes the speakers have remaining and a television to monitor the stage. I put on my headset microphone and then start organizing the speaker intros since I am emceeing today’s event.
8:00—The lower bowl of the arena is packed to the gills, but thousands of people are still streaming in to the upper bowls. My friend, Leon Patillo, former lead singer for Santana, bounds on to the stage to do a stirring rendition of the National Anthem complete with a fantastic display of stage pyro at the end. Next, I’m up—welcoming the crowd and introducing our first speaker, comedian and political impressionist, Jim Morris. Jim notices that I’ve stayed to watch his performance and addresses me using the voices of several of the presidents who have spoken on our Get Motivated stage including Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton. Surreal.
8:50 Introduce Krish… and start the back-and-forth sprint to my holding room that will continue at least 20 times throughout the day. I wanted to wear stilettos but I’m glad to be wearing sensible shoes today!
9:20- I give away a big screen TV for the door prize drawing, dismiss the audience for a 10-minute break… then run back to backstage to make sure the General is miked up and ready to roll.
9:30- Introduce Colin Powell, who is fine form, by the way—as cute and funny and inspiring as ever!
10:12 Introduce investing expert, Phil Town. More pyro. Fifteen foot flames shoot up from the four corners of the stage with a blast of heat that freaks me out every time!
10:20 Convene with the “Prayer Force,” a team of local folks who have committed to spend the day praying for our event. We have a Prayer Force at every Get Motivated Seminar. Over the past few years, more than 700 people have supported us in prayer at our events. The flavor of every group is a little different, but one thing never changes—I always enjoy praying with them and hate to leave! But after 25 minutes my assistant comes to whisk me away to attend to some minor crisis. My beloved Peter is in London today so the buck stops with me.
11:19- Next, my speech… I’m the emcee AND one of the speakers at today’s seminar. I do a sales training program based around my new book. There is a rhythm to public speaking that is hard to describe, but when you’re in the zone, it’s just intoxicating. The audience is brilliant, as evidenced by the fact that they laugh heartily at all my jokes!
I’m donating all the proceeds from my new book to 36 children’s charities and one of my charity partners is in the house today. Children International has brought a big group from their headquarters and when I mention CI from the stage a big whoop whoop goes up from them.
12:16 p.m.- I dismiss the audience for lunch and run backstage to film an interview with Coach Bill Self of the University of Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. What a nice guy! So humble and gracious.
12:45- Dash to my emcee room for a few bites of sushi before the beach party.
1:30- I’m on stage and the beach party is in full swing (no pun intended). Crazy KCer’s are dancing wildly around me. Beach balls are flying. Yeah, it’s fun! The winner of the Disneyworld vacation, by audience applause, is a handsome young soldier named Joe, decked in his army fatigues! The boy can do a mean caterpillar, but I think it was the handstand that put him over the top!
1:35- I introduce Bill Self to 20,000 screaming fans, “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, COACH BILLLLLL SELLLLLLLLLLLLFFFFFFFFF!” The music blares. The people cheer. No Bill Self appears. Instead my SVP/ brother comes running to the stage, “He had to go to the bathroom.” Dear God, this is “live television” and we can’t cut to commercial. Improvise, Tamara. Alright we’ll do the wave. Just as I get the crowd ready to do the wave, I see Bill Self coming through the speaker tunnel. Scratch the wave. Take two: “BILLL SELLLLLLFFFFF!” The crowd goes nuts, again. Sheesh!
2:00- Introduce Zig Ziglar, and his daughter Julie, who interviews her 82-year-old dad. It is sweet, moving, poignant. Zig is kind of like my dad too. I’ve spent 20 years working with him. He’s awesome, as usual.
2:36- Next up, my friend, James Smith, one of our business trainers. He’s got a rather abrasive sense of humor and berates the audience, lovingly, for thirty minutes. The more he spanks them, the harder they laugh. Gotta love James.
3:00- I’m writing a thank you card and wrapping up a gorgeous box of Gurkha cigars. I did the research—these stogies are rumored to be the best. And if the rumors didn’t convince me, the packaging did. Each cigar is encapsulated in an individual glass tube, sealed at the top with wax and gold foil. The Gurkhas are a gift for Rudy Giuliani who wrote the most stellar foreword for my book. In all honesty, I have never read a better foreword for ANY book. I’m honored.
3:20- Rudy loves the cigars! And he tells me again how much he loved my book. He says, “I learned so much—in fact, I underlined the whole thing as I read through it! It’s a really terrific book! It’s going to help so many people, Tamara. I loved the section on motivating kids too. I wish I had read your book 20 years ago when I was raising my kids!” What a dear man!
3:35- On stage again… “Let’s give a huge patriotic welcome to America’s Mayor…. RUDY GIULIANI!” Confetti cannons shoot red, white and blue confetti and streamers throughout the arena, the Mayor comes striding to the platform, the music is playing, “I want to be a part of it, New York, New York!” This is one of my favorite parts of the day! The energy in the room is electrifying! And of course, like his beloved Yankees, Rudy hits it out of the ballpark!
4:40- I introduce KC Chiefs Pro Bowl champion, Tony Gonzales. Oh, the ladies love him! Settle down, girls—he’s married. His beautiful wife, October—and their yummy 5-month old daughter—are on the front row! I interview Tony onstage and every answer meets with thunderous applause! Then we go backstage where I do another filmed interview with Tony.
5:29- SVP/bro Brian closes the show for me and dismisses the audience. It’s always a celebration following one of our events and our team is in high spirits. Brian and I hang around afterward to talk to a number of our staff members who are scurrying around doing the breakdown. We are blessed with such awesome people! I love these guys!
6:30- Back at the hotel, Brian and I have changed into jeans and are catching a cab to Bristol, one of KC’s fine restaurants in the Power and Light district. We are stopped by a big group who had attended the seminar… handshakes, hugs, and business cards all around. They had a great time and want to know when we’re coming back to KC.
7:15 pm- One of the nicest parts of my day is getting to have dinner and debrief with my little brother! I am so super blessed. I get to do work I love with people that I love. All that’s missing is my redhead!
So there you have it. That’s what it’s like to produce a GET MOTIVATED Seminar. It’s crazy busy, incredibly demanding and totally exhilarating!