Raising the Bar

Wonderful.

Wonderful to hear. I, first of all, have to say tremendous honor. And I speak with a speedy message, but at the same time an important one. Patricia had said that the ambassadors had been asked. Wasn't quite accurate. These ambassadors were over in the corner volunteering. They realize how important the time that a speaker has on a platform and to be as close to being on time as we possibly can. They said, how can we be ambassadors and take additional time? At the same time, they wanted to say something that I think is very important. As you look out, as you're a member of any of our Federation members, you are an International Federation for Professional Speakers member. As a result of that, please understand something. We come from countries that value the freedom of speech. Every time we take the platform, we have a chance to instill hope, to inspire people, and as the world goes global, the speaking profession goes global. Even though this is our first World Congress and the work that has been done in creating that, all of the ambassadors want you to know that even though we've won the award and we can put it up on a shelf, we're not done supporting the fact that the journey continues. As we move on into the future, I hope each and every one of you are committed to making sure that we explore the breadth of what this can be. And I also feel it's fitting that as the first official act as the winner of this award, I get to introduce our speaker this morning. David Price, CSP, was one of the initial people involved in forming the International Federation for Professional Speakers. His enthusiasm and excitement helped create the dream that we bought hold of, and you're seeing the fruits of now. At the same time, he is past president of the National Speakers Association of Australia, where he helped bring the information age into the association. If you didn't have email, David didn't communicate with you too well. He was also the 1999 Nevin Award winner. Similar to the Cabot, it talks about service and excellence. He's a man who's made a difference for audiences from the platform, leaders, professionals alike. But we've noticed something over the course of this convention, and what we've noticed is that on Saturday, Stephen Randall Samuel introduced David. Yesterday, Greg introduced Gary. As a result of that, the people, the fine people from Down Under, the people who are hosting the Olympics, do not want to be outdone. They are concerned that the people from up and over Would not understand the value of their youth. When I was there in 1999, I got to meet Matthew Price. At the age of seven, he was already a computer expert helping kids and teachers at school keep their computers working effectively. When his father in 1993 was given the CSP. On the school computer, he made up business cards that had Matthew Price, CSP.

This is about as close as he can get at this age.

I want you to welcome a man, a young man, who's excited about introducing his father. Let's give a warm NSA welcome to probably a future CSP, Matthew Price.

Thank you, David.

My name is Matthew Price from Perth, Australia, the most isolated capital city in the world. I am 15 years old. Your speaker today is 45 years old. In my 15 years, I've achieved something that your speaker has not ever achieved. I am 5 feet 6 inches tall. But that's not all. I also wear size 11 shoes. Your speaker wears size 6.5. Even though your speaker is only 5 feet 3 inches tall, he helps people walk tall and I think he walks tall. Will you please welcome your speaker today, my father, David Julian Price, CSP.

Hello, everyone.

When I was young, I was invisible. Well, at least I felt that I was invisible because no one ever noticed me. I was only 5 feet 3 inches tall when I grew up, so when I was young, who knows what I was? I think that's why Australia went metric, so that we could do millimetres. But when I was young, I felt that I was invisible. You see, when I was young, I went to a government primary school. Now, I've never been to a school here in your country, but in Australia where I live, the toilets are made of red brick. And they used to line all of us up against that red brick wall Every Friday afternoon. Now those of you who are physical education teachers, you will understand this because it was your colleagues who did it. So I stood against the wall doing what an invisible kid would do, knowing from experience That when the 2 best kids out the front who were chosen as the captains chose their teams, I was invisible. I was always the last one to be chosen.

Always.

And I hated it. I hated every second of it. But things changed. I went through high school. Now I don't know where physical education teachers here in the US train. But I'm absolutely convinced that in Australia they train at the zoo. Because I couldn't help noticing that the physical education teachers that I had at the school that I went to were not human. I don't know what they were, but they weren't human and they expected superhuman things from kids like me who weren't very good at sport. And so I grew up right through my early life not being a participant in sport, not liking sport very much, and not being interested in it very much.

A pathetic preacher really.

But things changed. I have in my career as a speaker only recently discovered that in that whole area that I've hated all my life, sport or physical activity, I found that there is a message. Not only a message for me But a message for my audiences and a message for speakers. And I've found that that lies in the area of athletics. Not running, not running, but in jumping. And today in this great privilege that I have to speak to you and share this platform with other fine people, I'm going to talk to you about raising the bar. And as an illustration of how the bar needs to be raised, I'm going to wander over to that computer in a moment and wake it up because it's gone to sleep and it shouldn't have. So I'm gonna turn on my little mouse here and I'm gonna do some stuff that hopefully you can't see for just a moment if it works and I'm gonna click on a button. Now I can see something. You can't yet but hopefully you will in a moment if it connects. Ted, are we connecting? There we are. We've raised the bar already. Technology has worked. This is a person doing high jump. You don't need me to tell you that probably, but I just thought I would because I know that I have an accent and that you might not understand the photograph. This is another person high jumping. I don't need to tell you that now because you've realized, haven't you? But high jump is something— now this will not surprise you— high jump is something that I wasn't good at. But those teachers, those physical education teachers, and I couldn't help remembering or noticing that Jeannie Robertson said the other night that she was a physical education major. I have remembered that. She will pay. And she will pay sooner than you think. When I ran up to the bar at high jump, well, you can imagine where it came to on me. It was about there. When it was 2 feet off the ground. So I need some help and I need some help from a tall person. And in this organisation, when you're me and you're my height, as you walk around, it's not difficult to locate tall people. I believe there's about 2,100 registrants here. There's about 2,000 of them for me to choose from, but I've chosen one in particular to ask me to help me today with my presentation, and it is Jeannie. And I think Jeannie thought I was joking when I asked her if she would help me in my presentation, but Jeannie, I think you know now. I thought you wanted to say it. Now because Jeannie is a humorist, I feel obliged that I should say, not to you but to her, Jeannie, You've had your turn, it's mine now. But I don't want to turn you off completely, so please do participate fully, both physically, as you are about to in a moment, and verbally. Can you see that blue bag over there, Jeannie? Would you mind going and picking up that blue bag and taking it to where you're standing now? That one right there. Yes, that's the one. It's a long way down for you, isn't it?

Yeah.

And just take it over there, right there, right there will do. Could you open the blue bag? Is it going? It has 2 zippers. That's one. That's the other one. Now could you just take out what you find in there and put it on the floor for me, please? You can put it on the floor if you like, but I understand that Your pantyhose might not let you get down there. I didn't hear anything, so are we safe? Is that all you found in there? Just a yes or no would do. How do you look again now?

I don't know.

It's all a selfie. Well, let me tell you, the answer's yes. You have to help the humorists, have you noticed? Now, Jeannie, it's a pretty simple task. Be real careful where you look.

Oh. Ginny.

It's your show. What do you want me to do? I'd like you to put that together. Put it back together?

Yep.

Why not? Where's my husband? I deliberately didn't invite LB here. onto the platform. I don't know how to put anything together. She doesn't know how to put this together, but I want to ask you one question, ladies and gentlemen. Was Jeannie good the other night?

Yes!

You're wrong. She wasn't good, she was awesome, wasn't she? She was awesome. And yet she's making one mighty bad job of putting this together. And yet she is an awesome speaker. She cannot do this. As great a speaker as she is, she can't do it. She's having a good play. I think she's pretending she's playing with Left Brain's train set, but— See? See? So my point is this, ladies and gentlemen, and I'm not in any way denigrating Jeannie. You see, she's a fine speaker, but she cannot put this thing together You can stop trying now, Jeannie, because she doesn't know what the finished product looks like. How many of us in our businesses are trying to build a speaking business— Jeannie, you can stop now just for a moment. Just for a moment. This is one of those important points, right? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, good. I'll just go back to where I was making the important point. That's okay. No apology necessary. You didn't know and you're a humorist. So, switch back to serious mode for just a second. We'll get back to Jeannie in a moment. How many of us in our businesses are building—

No, we're not going to do that.

I will. Oh, I will. Makes me wonder why I asked Jeannie. At least left brain would have followed the instructions. Take three. How many of us in our business? Are trying to build a business and we don't know what the finished product looks like. Do you know why they applauded?

Yeah.

Tell me later then. So many of us who have been in this business a while see young speakers and newer speakers who say, I'm gonna be a speaker. But they don't know what that looks like. They don't know what the business looks like. They don't know the hours we spend on planes and in airports and Marriott and Hilton hotels. So Jenny, let me help you. Careful, there's something right behind your leg and you're going to trip and when you trip it's a long way down. Can I be first? Now, yes, yes. While I build— some of you don't understand what Jeannie just did. Fortunately, I was in Dallas, and I do. But I'm not going to tell you. Jeannie can tell you when you ask if she will buy you a drink and explain why she did what she did on the platform.

Ah!

Ah! Ah!

I should have used the piece first. Should have used the foundation. I should have started with the foundation. You can't build if you don't have a foundation. Jenny, the foundation— the foundation was last night. Let me help. Yeah, all right, jump up here and get it. As a matter of fact, you're the one who's going to do that. Now, Jeannie, this is a high jump stand. Could you jump it? Jump over the top of that? No, just, you know, I mean, you know, could you raise the bar on this stand? There's a trick, isn't there? Yeah, there's a trick alright. There's no bar. So many of us in our businesses don't set a bar and so what do we jump? I mean, even I at 5 foot 3 can jump over this. Could you? In that skirt?

Watch this.

Very good. Very good. This goes on there, but I will help. Will you put the bar on? Because the bar is our measure in what we do. No bar, no measure. No measure, no success. No failure, no nothing. I asked you to do something, Jeannie. Now please, when I ask, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a triangle and that's a square. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Oh.

You got to help me here.

I'm doing this one hand. Don't tie it too tight. Not too tight. That's it. That's it.

Too tight.

Too tight. Yeah, that'll do. Now you can put that back on. Can you remember how? Yeah, this faces to the front. Correct, yes. Now this looks like a bit of a high jump bar, does it not? Now Jeannie, could you jump that? This bar here? Yes, from about there or here or wherever. If I had on my running clothes, I might be able to. If you did, yeah, that's good. Well, let me tell you, Jeannie, if you did— now here's a real translation for many of you. High jump is measured in metric. If you held the women's world record, which I think it would probably be appropriate for you to hold as opposed to the men's world record, then this bar would be at 2.09 metres. Now, do you reckon you could come around here and move that bar up to 2.09 metres?

I'm—

I am so embarrassed. So the answer's no. So, let me loosen it and you slide it up and I'll tell you when to stop because I won't be able to reach it. Well, there's 2 metres right there. Very good, very good. You're getting there. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. See that little red, that? Yeah, you're getting there, you're getting there. It's tricking me, Arnie.

It doesn't go, does it?

It does, yeah. It's just that you can't get it there. That's not it? That's it. Now, Jenny, this is the women's world record for high jump. Could you jump that? I don't think so. No, I don't think so either. And I don't know if anyone in here could, but that's the world record. But Jeannie, can you now take it up to 2.45 metres?

Yeah, sure.

Now you might need to take that bottom or that top piece off to get it up there and then put it back on. I don't know, I've never been your height, so I just don't know how far you could reach. You know, I mean, it's a long way for me. 2.45. 2.45. If you get it wrong, don't you worry, I'll let you know. It goes a bit further, a bit further, a little bit further. That's it. See, now here's a really interesting thing, isn't it? The only way she can get to that height is she's gotta change the rules. And so many of us think we're stuck by some rules that are written by someone, but who said you can't move the bar? Did I tell Jeannie, don't lean the bar over?

No.

The only way she could get it to where it has to be is to lean the bar. We gotta change— that's too high, too high. I changed the rules. You can change— and she's broken the bar. If you put it down there, Jeannie, I'm going after it, so let me fix it. Because I need this. Next time you kiss me on the head, kiss me on my bald patch, that way I can feel it.

Okay.

Now let's just bring it down. Now I'll just get underneath here where you wouldn't fit, and I'll get it to the spot that is right. Now you can take over. That's where you put it. Just stand it up. Now that is the men's world record for high jump. Now I just want to show you something here. It's a bit doozy here because you bent it. Come and stand here, Jeanne, next to me. Right there, right there, right in that spot there. And let's look up at this bar. That's a long way, people. That's a very long way, and yet that is the world record for high jump. 2.45 metres. Could you jump that?

No, I could not. No.

Interesting thing— Jeanne, by the way, that's all.

I'm through? You're through.

Wonderful.

Ah, you're wonderful. Jeanne Robertson. Before Jeannie touched that, it was vertical. Those of you on this side can see it's not now, but I'll deal with that later. So that's 2.45 metres. The world high jump record. It's a long way. We gotta raise the bar. Step 1 about the 7 steps that I think you need to raise the bar is this: you need to take stock of where you're at right now. You need to take a really good hard look at where you're at right now. Shall we wake up the computer and see what happens?

Aha.

Now, do you remember seeing that before? So do I and it shouldn't be there again. So I'm reevaluating everything I've ever heard Terry Brock say.

Everything.

That's me. We've seen that again too. This will disappear shortly. Have you noticed in our business that when you choose to use the technology, you have to be willing to raise the bar yourself because sometimes it won't? This will disappear shortly. I told the computer to do it about 6 months ago and again this morning. But it will go, I promise you. Then I've got a message for you about honesty. While we're waiting for the computer to catch up, let me start talking to you about honesty. You see, so many of us in this business—

aha.

So many of us in this business are not quite sure about ourselves. Just be honest with yourself. And you don't have to worry about being honest with anyone else. Thomas Watson said that, the founder of IBM. Do you know, in my career as a speaker, honesty was never a really big issue for me because I just thought, well, I'm honest. But I couldn't help noticing that my audiences weren't.

That's right.

I knew that from their feedback. Either that or I had bad audiences. But I came to realize that you need to look within and you really need to start looking at what honesty is all about because only then Can you start to really be honest with anyone else? Sam Walton said this, ego, in my opinion, is one of the worst things that can happen to a company. I'd like you to replace the word company with the word person. Now I'd like you to just look around and see if you can spy an ego.

Ooh.

Because one of the things I've noticed about NSA is that there's one or two around. Now ego's a great thing. We all need it. But I've learned as a speaker that the day you swallow the ego is the day you become truly professional. That's the day when you really start to perform for the people that matter, the audience.

Take stock.

Take stock. Step 1. Take stock. And it gives you a firm footing to take off on the high jump or the pole vault. But if you don't take stock, you don't get the firm footing. How could this high jumper possibly jump that bar? How could the world record holder possibly get over there? Without a firm footing. And in our business, a firm footing is taking stock, getting a really good idea of what it is we're about. Have a look at these people. They're photographs you've noticed me been taking during the convention. These are some of our high flyers. Not all of them, just some.

I'm David Julian Price.

And there's Zig. I had the privilege of listening to Zig speak to the youth program. Is he a wonderful man? Find the high flyers and then do 3 things. Watch, Listen and learn. Just 3 things. Watch, listen and learn. Don't copy. That's not what we're about in this profession. Just watch, listen and learn. That's what we're about in this profession. Find the high flyers and then watch, listen and learn. I can see some of you taking notes and I need to tell you that you don't need to do that because You're all gonna get a handout that's got every word I say that's important. There's not many that are really important and isn't that the same for the person sitting next to you? I know it's not for you but it is for them, in your opinion probably. Mark Victor Hansen's in the audience somewhere. I don't know where he is and I'm not gonna ask him to stand but I did tell him that I was gonna say this. There's a book that he and Jack Canfield have written before the Chicken Soup for the Soul ones. It's called The Aladdin Factor. It says really one thing, just one simple 3-letter word. Those of you who know the book, what is the word? Ask.

Ask.

We say ask, but you say ask. That's right. You have to ask and that's when you'll get what you want. Years and years ago, I was at the Dallas Convention and I queued up to talk to Art Linkletter for 45 minutes after that. And my wife had the camera there. Some of you will remember Mary Kay was meeting at the same hotel. 45 minutes waiting for the elevator. Do you remember?

Yes.

My wife was standing there with the camera and Art Linkletter was there and I queued to talk to Art Linkletter and had my photo taken. I asked. When I went back home, people said to me, gee, you were lucky. Fancy getting your photo taken with Art Linkletter. And I said, luck didn't enter into it. I make my own luck. I stood in a queue for 45 minutes and then I shook Art Linkletter's hand and I said, Art, would you mind if I had my photograph taken with you? And guess what he said? He said, sure! And I have the photo. I asked. I've learned so much from that. You saw my son Matthew introduce me today. One day we were driving along in the car and I put a tape in and it was The Aladdin Factor. And this character, the one you met tonight, Matthew and his younger brother Simon were sitting in the backseat and for the first time ever I was so proud because they said, What's that? But they said it in an interesting way or an interested way. Never before had they said that about any of my tapes. And so they listened to The Aladdin Factor and Matthew, the one who you saw introduce me today, asked for the tape and he's listened to it and he's learned from that. So Mark Victor Hansen, I think I see him down in the dim light there. I don't know if Jack's here. Is Jack here?

No.

No?

Thank you to you both. And those of you who know that book, you will know the thanks they deserve. Step 3 for raising the bar is ask and you shall receive. And even if you don't, what have you lost? Absolutely nothing. Here's another quote. Keep track of those people who say no. Because next week or next month they're gonna say yes. Remember the Aladdin factor. Just keep asking because one day they'll say yes. It's a great quote, don't you think? Thomas Watson again, the founder of IBM. Keep track of those people who say no. And yet in our business, how many of us have not yet got the systems in place to keep track of people? We get a call and we say, hi. They say, hi, I spoke to you 2 years ago. Excuse me? We have no record. We have no method of doing that. Now I don't know if that's for you but that was what it was like for me before I got my office systematized. You see, there's so many things that we can take out of these things in terms of raising the bar. Those of you who are new in this business, I don't know what database you use. I just hope you use one. I don't care what database you use. I just hope you use one. You saw down in the exhibition some amazing software that'll do much more than just a database. If you need to know about technology, I recommend Terry Brock. He tells such wonderful things about technology that opens your eyes. To what it doesn't do as often as it should. When you're raising this bar, you need to raise it just one notch at a time. So you don't sit down and wait for opportunities to come, you go and get them. Here's the quote. Go and get them and make them for yourself. What has ever come to me Not much. I was invisible, remember? Not much came to me. Short kids like me, we have to learn to go and ask. Took me a long time. Matthew told you I was 45 years old. I'd like to tell you he lied, but he didn't. But I only learnt this about 5 years ago when I read Mark Victor Hansen's book, The Aladdin Factor, is when I started doing that and going out and making the opportunities for myself. Don't sit there and wait. Go out and make them. They won't come to you unless you're really lucky. I don't believe we have luck. I believe we make it ourselves. These high jumpers that you're seeing on the screen now, every time they jump that bar, They aim to go higher. But you know, they don't take the bar up a lot. They only take the bar up a tiny, tiny, tiny, weeny, weeny, weeny bit at a time. In your business, do the same thing. Don't go and be Neato overnight. Don't go and be Al Walker overnight. Don't go and be Naomi Rhodey overnight. Be you. And raise your bar one tiny, tiny bit at a time. Tiny notch at a time. Work on one thing or 2 or 3 if that's manageable for you, but don't work on 10 or 12. And you know that's a real challenge for you. This is sit on the stool time. Important point. You will have in your satchel by the end of this conference note after note after note after action point after action point after action point and you won't know where you are. You will go home and you will take out your satchel and you'll say, where will I start? Who has been there and done this? Those of you who haven't, look around. There is one or two hands up in the air. So work on one thing at a time. When you raise the bar, you need to move the bar one notch at a time. When they do high jump at the Olympics, which they will be doing in a few weeks' time in Sydney in my country, they'll be raising that bar just half a centimetre at a time. That's just under a quarter of an inch. A quarter of an inch at a time they take it up. Raise your bar one notch at a time. So that's high jump and you can see over here, some of you, that I have a picture of a high jumper. But there's something else that happens.

What's that?

There's pole vault. And up on the screen you'll see a picture of a pole vaulter, several pole vaulters. You see, the pole vaulters do something different. They use a bar. They use a pole. And Jenny— I've lost her. There she is. Jenny, even though you couldn't jump that, darlin'— The pole vault record is a lot higher. This is 2.45 meters. The women's pole vault record is 4.64 meters, but the men's pole vault record is 6.12 meters. 6.12 meters. You might not know how high this is, so I'm gonna show you because I bought this little gadget at Brookstone just the other day for this very purpose. Ted, how high is this stage? Is it 4 feet? 3 foot.

3 foot?

More than that. We're going to put this on the stage and we're going to shoot it up to the ceiling. And in a moment, it's going to tell me how high this is. This ceiling from this stage is 7.48 metres. So, Let's add about a metre. 8.48 metres the ceiling is above you. Just 2 metres below that is the world record for pole vault. Now even for a short bloke like me, and even for LB, who's relatively tall compared to me, and even for Jeanne, that's a long way. And the only way that that person can get over it is with a pole. The poll gives them leverage. So many of us in our speaking business, we don't use leverage. We don't know what leverage is usually when we join this business. Would that be right for you? We've gotta find out what the leverage is. Let's look at what some leverage can be. Have a look at these people.

Hi.

These are the staff. These people are sitting in the audience right now. They wondered why I took their photograph. Now they know. Some of the guys are thinking, I'll kill him. But Don't these people provide the leverage for you, for us? These people are the ones, these people are the ones that give us our leverage. But that's not all. There are others who do it as well. This is the garage of an Olympic pole vaulter. Now the photo clarity is not good, but it doesn't matter. You can see the point. Above that rack in there Is a whole pile of leverage. There's about 150 different poles there and an Olympic pole vaulter takes a whole range of poles with him or her to the Olympics depending on the humidity, the temperature, the ground, their own mood. And we as speakers think we don't need to find a whole armoury of Leverage? Of course we do. We need as much leverage as an Olympic pole vaulter. So this person on this picture over here, the pole vaulter, will only get to that level of 6.12 metres with the leverage that the pole gives her. And as speakers, we will only get to the heights that we aspire to achieve if we use some leverage. But not just one. It's not just our staff. It's all sorts of people. It's all sorts of things. But leverage is what will make you fly higher. Pole vaulters fly higher because of leverage. Look at these people. They're you. They're just people that I have poked my camera in front of while I've been here. And you might notice that With a couple of exceptions, and with no disrespect meant to anyone up there, most of these people are the ordinary people. And what I mean by that is they're not sitting in the front row, because the non-ordinary people get to sit in the front row in this convention and the rest are at the back. So the people in the front row, it's time for you to applaud the people at the back. Because remember, if it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be where you are. Similarly, however, for the people at the back. You see, this is you. We are all just people. I know that we like our audiences to think that we're superhuman or that we're 6 feet tall or whatever, but reality is we're just people. Even Max. Even Max is just a person.

A person.

And yet Max is one of the most wonderful people you'll ever meet. He's your incoming chair of the International Federation. He has a beautiful family and he's a beautiful person. And he's one of my mentors. He's one of my high flyers. I watch, I listen, I learn. Now yours might not be Max, although I highly recommend him as a mentor, but find the people in your life who do for you what Max does for me. He inspires me. He makes me realize that there are other things in life. He's a wonderful person and he's not the only one. But as an Australian speaking here, would you expect me to finish on any other photograph other than an Australian? I mean, you need the leverage To raise that bar to go to the higher heights. You see, the high jumper gets over it with absolutely nothing but their own body, their own will, their own energy, their own exercise, their own strength. Absolutely nothing gets the high jumper over the bar except what they carry in themselves. But the pole vaulter has leverage. And we need to use that. In our business and in our life as well. In every aspect of what we do, we need that leverage. Have a look at these people. We forget these people. The people who have served us, our photographer and the staff. We forget these people so often. Sometimes as speakers, we're busy. We live a frantic life. We rush around. We're getting ready for our program. We're getting our props ready. We're making sure PowerPoint works. We're checking Terry Brock's cell phone number. But sometimes we forget these people, the NSA staff as well. Sometimes we forget the people that support us.

Thank you.

Whenever I go to a restaurant, I sit down and if the waiter doesn't have a name, I say, excuse me, but may I know your name? I cannot be served by a person whose name I don't know. And they always tell me their name. And from then on, I make a habit of using their name. But I always say one thing. I say, if their name is— David Julian Price. Let's say Betty. I say, Betty, I've heard this restaurant has the best service in town. Is that right?

Yes.

Now do you know what Betty does? Betty smiles. And do you know what Betty then delivers to me and my table? The best service in town. Can we just throw this picture back up, Ted, please? This is Maria. She's my housemaid in this hotel. When I took Maria's picture, and it's not a good one as you can see, but nevertheless, do you know what Maria said to me? No, no. Please don't take my picture. I am an ugly person. And I thought, how sad. How sad that a woman like that, and I don't think she's ugly, do you?

No.

How sad that she can be whatever age she is, and I wouldn't like to hazard a guess, but to think that she's an ugly person. How sad. I have resolved that she's gonna receive a bunch of flowers from me before I leave here 'cause I don't know that she's received flowers from many people. But I've learned in this business that the people who help us, are the people we need to thank. So we need to thank Brian who's making sure you can hear me now. We need to thank Ted who's making sure that all of this works consistent with my computer cooperating. And we need to thank the other guys whose names I don't know. David who fixed up my microphone, but all of the techs. But these are the people who sit back all the time, you know, and they watch us. And they watch us receive standing ovations. So right now, all of the techs, I know that you answer to Ted, but for just one moment, will you just answer to me? I'd like you to just stay seated. And all of you people sitting there, can you please stand up and give the techs and all of these other people a standing ovation?

Thank you.

I have noticed in this business of speaking that if you thank everyone, and I try to thank people in advance if I possibly can, but I always make sure I thank them afterwards. But if you thank them, it's funny, they're just like Betty at the restaurant. You get good service.

Thank you.

But I wanna link back to a point I made earlier about honesty. You see, I don't thank them because I heard some speaker one day say you should thank people. I thank them because I'm grateful. I'm genuinely grateful for what they do. If David hadn't wired me up now, would you hear me?

No.

If Brian wasn't doing what he's doing, you wouldn't get the other sounds that we've built into this presentation. You're wondering what sounds? They haven't happened yet. He's got the cue sheet. So thank them with sincerity. Look at this next picture. This is Leroy Nelson. Leroy Nelson is a cab driver here in Washington. He drove Matthew and I from our hotel to the Smithsonian the other day. Leroy is 83 years old.

Wow.

He's been driving cabs in Washington for 50 years. 56 years. And I said to Leroy, Leroy, if you've been driving cabs for 56 years, who's the most important person you've ever had in your cab? And his answer was, he turned around and he looked and he said, you, sir.

You, sir.

Now with an attitude like Leroy Nelson, how much stress do you think he has in his life? Probably not a lot. But so often the cab drivers, the techs, the waiters, the concierge, the check-in people, they don't get the appreciation they deserve because we as speakers, we tend to be driven by our ego. I know. I'm the same. You're the same. And even if you're not, the person next to She is. We need to put it aside. See, the last tip about raising the bar is you need to strive for the personal bests. Jeanne can't jump that and Jeanne's the tallest woman I've ever met. She can't jump that. Jerry, her wonderful husband, couldn't jump that. Now I don't know this, but I don't think there's anyone in the audience who could jump that because if you could, you wouldn't be here. You'd be training for the Olympics right now. So I can say that with reasonable certainty, no one could jump that. But there are thousands of high jumpers in the world. Why do they do it if they can't jump that, the world record? They do it for their personal best. And that's what we need to look for, personal bests. Sure, aim for the world record, but score personal bests along the way and put a great big check next to it when you get a personal best because it for you is an achievement and it's a great achievement. Go for personal bests.

Thank you, David.

This is a quote by Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines. There are 100 roads to Rome. The important thing is to get there. You see, at this conference, you'll hear far more than 100 roads to success in speaking. You'll hear many more than that. And every one of them is right. There is no right road. There is no wrong road. There's just roads. And you need to choose the road that suits you at this particular time for where you wanna go in your business with your clients at this time. There are 100 roads. Choose the one that suits you now. The bar is gonna keep being raised, you know. And you're gonna think about this bar for a long time. Did you read that? I'll tell you what it said 'cause I happen to know. I put it there. It said, if you hide your feelings for long enough— someone finish it for me. You'll forget what they are.

You'll forget what they are.

Some of you who are sitting there thinking, oh, he's getting into the touchy-feely stuff now. Hold on, I better go to the stool. If you're thinking, oh, he's getting into the touchy-feely stuff, this bit's for you. You need it, baby. Those of you who are thinking, ah, good, he's getting into the touchy-feely stuff, you already know what I'm gonna say. It's the rest of you that need this bit. So let's have a look at where we go. Have a look at this guy. He's just landed. How do you think he feels? How do you think his emotions are working for him? Do you think they're going well? You see, he's the world record holder. He's just jumped that bar. The reason his head's over the top is, remember, he's on some buns this thick on the other side, in case you were wondering. Look at her. She's a pole vaulter. Just look at the feeling of elation on her face. Can we relate to that as speakers? That was a question. Can we relate to that as speakers?

Yes.

Yes, we can. Can I relate to that as a 14, 10, 12-year-old kid? No, 'cause I never did that. But as a speaker, yes. I said earlier, I started some— my life hating sport and physical activity, but there's so much in this that means so much for us now. This is Ginny Henshaw. Ginny's from my hometown, Perth, and she's sitting in this audience right now. Do you know what she said to me yesterday? She said, David, do you need any help tomorrow morning? Whatever you need, I will do.

Thank you.

Ginny is the sort of friend we all need. How many of you have a friend like Ginny? Yes. Are they here? If they are, say yes.

Yes.

Now yell out, thank you, friend.

Thank you, friend.

And I'm gonna yell out, thank you, Ginny, because she has orchestrated what's about to happen. This is your intelligence test. The people on the end of the row on that side have a little pile of yellow keepers and they're gonna pass them right along and every one of you is gonna get one. So let's try that now and see what happens. We're gonna pass the little pile along. There I can see them happening. Now you people over here, let me just speak to you because you'll be bored for a few minutes if you're not getting it. But what you're about to get is a keeper with the 7 strategies of how to raise the bar, the things we've talked about today. But we've got the most important point about to come. But I want these cards to get across so keep them moving as quickly as you can. And there your takeaway card. There your keeper.

Thank you.

They're exactly the size of a credit card because I have worked out with speakers that if you put something where their credit cards live, it'll stay there. So it's exactly the same size as your credit cards and there are 2,300 of them going around the room now and there's 2,000 people in the room. So there'll be enough for everyone. If you miss out, we'll get you one. Have a look at this person. Don't we all know and love Trudy? She's in the front row right here. Cavett's wife. Now the reason, Trudy, you're up there is for me to make a very important point. We all need the support of our loved ones. We all need the support of our partner. Because in this business, we need our friends, we need our ginnies, And we need our Trudys. We need everyone. But that's not all either. You saw Matthew introduce me earlier on. This was the day that I received the Nevin Award, the equivalent of your Cavett in Perth. Was I proud? Was I proud. I wasn't just proud that I received the Nevin Award. But I was proud that Matthew wanted to stand up there in front of the logo and have his photo taken with me. Do you know what's the wallpaper? I get confused. The wallpaper on my computer is? It's this picture. Do you know who put it there? It wasn't me. It was Matthew. You see, why are we in this business? We're in this business for this. This is Natasha, my 18-year-old.

My 18-year-old. My 18-month-old.

This is my wife and Natasha. It's our family. Don't ever lose sight of the family. The family is what we're here for. You see, if we can't relate to this, we can't relate to our audience because our audience has one of these, a family. Now it might not be directly their children, but they'll have an extended family and we need to reach our audiences and reach their families. But before we can do that, we've got to reach our own. If we can't reach our own family, then what can we really tell anyone about life? This was Natasha's first birthday. I was on the road. I wasn't on the road deliberately to miss her birthday. It's just that I had received the booking several months before. And she was only 1. I wasn't used to that date being significant in my life and so I took the booking and then I realized it's her first birthday and I was on the road. I'll never do that again. The first thing that goes in my diary now is the birthdays and significant dates of my family. They are bookings for me and they pay the highest fee of all.

Amen.

Nothing pays a higher fee than the people who love you, but you need to love them. So ladies and gentlemen, it's been my privilege to talk to you about raising the bar. You have the little card, the little keeper now which gives you the 7 strategies I've talked about. But I want you to do just this as you leave here today. I want you to remember I was away for my Natasha's first birthday, but I want you to raise the bar for you, for your audiences, for your family, and for everyone you touch. And that way, we'll all raise the bar.

Thank you. Thank you, David.

He's a marvelous guy. Fantastic.

David has helped us raise the bar in the Federation, helped raise the bar in Australia. And he helped us raise the bar today and take our families with him. Let's give another warm hand to David Price, CSP, Australia.

Thanks again.

I want you to all know that we will now have the Meet the Pros, one of the most popular experiences that we have at our convention that will be in the exhibit area. It's also important, they've got to turn this room around to get ready for our luncheon, so I'd encourage you to leave this area as soon as possible, get down to the exhibit area, join Meet the Pros. Thank you. Beautiful job.

That was great. You did great.