Saw Clinton and Lance speak yesterday

JCL · #1 03-11-2006, 06:30 PM

I attended a motivational/leadership seminar yesterday in Vancouver. Approx 6000 attendees. Fourth tour date in Canada; they were in Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto earlier this week. Headline speakers were Bill Clinton and Lance Armstrong. A couple of very powerful messages. Clinton stayed away from politics entirely, and delivered a speech about what each of us was doing here on this planet. Whatever you may think of his politics (and as a non-American, I never spent much time thinking about his politics), the message was incredibly well delivered. He is a very powerful speaker. He basically used his foundation's work as an analogy for personal involvement. Greenhouse gases, security issues, Iraq, Indonesian relief, US/Canadian relations, a lot of topics were touched on, but all were brought back down to "Whether you agree with me or not, fine, but what is your own opinion? You need to have one" He was followed by Lance Armstrong, who spoke more about cancer than the Tour. Not a great speaker, in terms of being relaxed on stage, but great in terms of the heartfelt honesty. Doesn't hurt that he had a great message.

Also on the agenda were Loretta LaRoche (funny); Peter Guber of Mandalay Entertainment (seems like a bright guy, but a poor speaker); Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics author, entertaining); Mary Lou Quinlan (woman power); and a few more.

Worth attending if you get a chance. The organizers of this one were The Power Within.

vinuneuro · #2 03-11-2006, 07:07 PM

Jeff, this sounds like it was a fantastic event with some great speakers. Whatever, the occassion and regardless of the topic, everytime I've heard Clinton speak it's been phenomonal. Thanks for sharing this.

Heath-robinson · #3 03-11-2006, 07:07 PM

Lance Armstrong is probably my greatest Sporting hero, the way that he battled life-threatening cancer to go on and win a record 7 Tours De France is nothing short of incredible.
I would thoroughly recommend his two books 'Its not about the bike' and 'Every second counts' which are truly inspirational books. (You don't have to be a cyclist to enjoy them either.)

JCL · #4 03-11-2006, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heath-robinson

Lance Armstrong is probably my greatest Sporting hero, the way that he battled life-threatening cancer to go on and win a record 7 Tours De France is nothing short of incredible.
I would thoroughly recommend his two books 'Its not about the bike' and 'Every second counts' which are truly inspirational books. (You don't have to be a cyclist to enjoy them either.)

Strongly agree. I have not read 'Every Second Counts' but it is on my list. 'It's Not About the Bike' was great, I read it twice.

PersonaNonGrata · #5 03-11-2006, 07:54 PM

Clinton is a very charismatic person. It ain't his looks the ladies fall for.

I don't care for his politics or his wife but he seems like he'd be a great fella to have at a party.

R8DX5 · #6 03-12-2006, 02:06 PM

I saw Clinton speak at my sister's graduation back when he was President. Absolutely brilliant speaker. Made me want to get out there and get a job.

Thunder22 · #7 03-12-2006, 02:23 PM

HEARD! HEARD! HEARD!

It's heard him speak

- This post has been a Public Service Announcement from the Grammar Police. Enjoy your day

michelito · #8 03-12-2006, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gresch

HEARD! HEARD! HEARD!

It's heard him speak

- This post has been a Public Service Announcement from the Grammar Police. Enjoy your day

Maybe he was listening to his iPod in the audience and just "saw" him speak... :eek:

My wife told me about their appearance in Montreal, but it was sold out by the time I checked... plus it was ex-pen-si-ve