If you think my writing's provocative, fun, insightful, and original... if you've enjoyed my books --- let me invite you to invite me to present at your conference or event or festival or convention! I do
keynotes
workshops
programs
seminars
I have more than 700 paid presentations to my credit, consistent evaluations of 4.5 to 5 (on a 1 to 5 scale) and plenty of audio, DVD, and recommendations available, which I'm happy to send to meeting planners and conference program committees. You can see some of those recommendations right now, on LinkedIn.
But there are lots of good speakers out there. Why hire me? Well, here's what I said on Speaker Site:
Meeting planners often start out thinking they're hiring me for my
credentials: 48 published books in five genres (memoir, culinary,
children's, fiction, poetry --- including a Coretta Scott King Award, a
James Beard Award, a New York Times Notable Book... ). They may have
seen me on Today, GMA, TVFN, CNN, or read about me in the Wall Street
Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Vanity Fair or New York
Times.
Perhaps they know something of my peculiar life-adventures: that I'm a high-school drop-out, that I served brunch to 1200 people at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, that I was widowed young and terribly, that my late father was Marilyn Monroe's first biographer, that I once traveled for a couple of months with the Stevie Wonder group on tour... and that's just for starters.
But then I start talking, and they --- the meeting planners and their audiences --- realize all this was only the garnish. My talks are the meal. And the meal is a feast.
My speeches are delicious, generous, celebratory. In each bite, there's a balance: salty, sweet, tart and mellow. I work from scratch, and always use good ingredients (all fresh, never canned, and absolutely no artificial flavors). I prepare so carefully for each specific group's hungers and tastes that this substantial, multi-course feast appears effortless. This means we all enjoy it even more.
Though I wouldn't dream of omitting a highly pleasurable dessert (think chocolate, raspberries, real whipped cream) my audiences also eat their vegetables and everything else. They leave full, and nourished.
But unlike, say, the tryptophane-induced stupor that follows Thanksgiving, my well-fed audiences are energized, psyched up, ready to rock'n'roll.
Yet, they always want seconds... which is why I'm so often invited back time and again.
People are hungry: for answers, for authenticity. It's my honor to serve them.
Perhaps they know something of my peculiar life-adventures: that I'm a high-school drop-out, that I served brunch to 1200 people at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, that I was widowed young and terribly, that my late father was Marilyn Monroe's first biographer, that I once traveled for a couple of months with the Stevie Wonder group on tour... and that's just for starters.
But then I start talking, and they --- the meeting planners and their audiences --- realize all this was only the garnish. My talks are the meal. And the meal is a feast.
My speeches are delicious, generous, celebratory. In each bite, there's a balance: salty, sweet, tart and mellow. I work from scratch, and always use good ingredients (all fresh, never canned, and absolutely no artificial flavors). I prepare so carefully for each specific group's hungers and tastes that this substantial, multi-course feast appears effortless. This means we all enjoy it even more.
Though I wouldn't dream of omitting a highly pleasurable dessert (think chocolate, raspberries, real whipped cream) my audiences also eat their vegetables and everything else. They leave full, and nourished.
But unlike, say, the tryptophane-induced stupor that follows Thanksgiving, my well-fed audiences are energized, psyched up, ready to rock'n'roll.
Yet, they always want seconds... which is why I'm so often invited back time and again.
People are hungry: for answers, for authenticity. It's my honor to serve them.
Over 90% of the groups I address --- and by the way, in my own understanding I always address people, not audiences --- invite me back.
To find out more, please see the full profile at Speaker Site, or email me directly.
At the age of 40 and after having never been in a kitchen, your soup and bread book taught me that you can love the "art" of taking a few fresh ingredients and bringing them together into something that you can share with the ones you love. Thank you for changing my life forever
Posted by: Kathleen O'rourke | December 09, 2009 at 05:53 PM