Keynote Speaker of the Week - Connie Podesta

Keynote Speaker of the Week is Connie Podesta!

While Connie Podesta is a professional speaker and an expert in improving overall performance, she’s really so much more…

• TV and Radio Personality
• Organizational Therapist
• Board Certified, Licensed Professional Counselor
• Actress
• Prolific Author
• Human Behavior Expert
• Comedienne
• Career Life/Executive Coach

With a background like that, just imagine how she can put these specialties to work for you.

Each year, Connie Podesta teaches and motivates thousands of people. She shows them how to turn obstacles into meaningful and productive opportunities. And in a way that only Connie Podesta can, audiences are encouraged to make the necessary changes to improve performance and achieve the success they desire. Connie Podesta definitely has that special spark your organization needs to move BEYOND THE NEXT LEVEL and stand out from the crowd.

Simply put, audiences, meeting planners and senior leaders around the globe enjoy partnering with Connie Podesta. They like her message and no-nonsense approach. They like her humor and interactive style. And they like the potential that she uncovers in people at all levels in the organization.

With Connie Podesta, you always get what you pay for. Event after event, audiences say they walk away with tangible insights about themselves and skills they can use to handle change and optimize performance in their business and personal relationships. Additionally, senior leaders always feel she’s a terrific use of company time and money. How often does that happen?

To see Connie's video, topics and detailed information click here: CONNIE PODESTA

Keynote Speaker of the Week - Jason Jennings

Keynote Speaker Jason Jennings has been selected as our speaker of the week:

Each year more than 1000 inquiries (an average of twenty weekly) are received for a speech by Jason Jennings. Eighty companies and dates are approved and selected. Based on the vast research completed for his books and his two decades of helping propel companies to their full economic potential each speech by Jason Jennings is custom designed for the group being addressed.

Jason Jennings is one of the most successful and prolific business and leadership authors in the world. He has spent twenty years founding and leading successful businesses and teaching other companies how to achieve their full economic potential.

Jason was the youngest radio station group owner in the world and his legendary programming and sales strategies are credited with revolutionizing many parts of the broadcasting industry. Later, he founded Jennings-McGlothlin & Company, a consulting firm that became the nation's largest media consultancy.

He traveled the globe in search of the world's fastest companies for his landmark book, It's Not The Big That Eat The Small - It's The Fast That Eat The Slow. Within weeks of its release it hit the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and New York Times Bestsellers Lists. Now published in 32 languages, USA TODAY named it one of the top 25 books of the year!

His last book, Think BIG - Act Small, profiled the leadership of the only ten companies in the world to have grown both revenues and profits by double digits every year for ten consecutive years. Like his previous books it debuted on all the bestseller charts.

His new book, Hit the Ground Running, A Manual for New Leaders was released in April 2009. The book reveals the tactics and strategies of the ten American CEO's who've created the greatest amount of economic value since the year 2000 and builds a case for a new kind of leader. The Street.com calls it, "an excellent book for leaders who are trying to gain respect and develop relationships." Leading Blog.com calls it, "insightful and crisply written." BizEd, the magazine of business schools says that, "Hit The Ground Running offers an intriguing behind the scenes look at America's best CEOs," while Publisher's Weekly says, "the book makes a smart appeal to the new generation of leaders."

When not traveling the world on research and adventure travel, Jennings delivers 80 keynotes annually with USA TODAY naming him one of the three most in-demand business speakers on the planet alongside the authors of Good to Great and In Search of Excellence. Jason Jennings is an outstanding Keynote Speaker.

Following are just a few of the outstanding testimonials Jason has received:

"The feedback received from our dealers and our employees has been overwhelming. They connected with Jason from the moment he set foot on the stage and were totally inspired at the end of his keynote. As one of our dealers told us, Jason was a home run"

"I wanted to thank you for an outstanding presentation at our User Conference. I won't take up too much time other than to say you received a 4.98 rating (out of 5), which is the highest we have ever received at any previous User Conferences for Keynote speeches."

"Jason’s presentation was riveting! He built a personal relationship with the audience that made for a tremendous exchange of learning. The time Jason puts into understanding the audience and their business shows up in the quality of the presentation and positive reaction. The most frequent comment, "when can we have him again?"

To view additional information on Jason click here: Jason Jennings

Our Keynote Speaker of the Week is Ross Shafer

Ross Shafer is a true gem in the speaker world. We work with thousands of speakers and when we run across someone who is a great speaker and is also entertaining, funny, and easy to work with it makes for a winning combination. I can’t tell you how many clients have come back and said “He was one of the best speakers we have ever had!” and ”How can we top this next year?”

You need to check him out for yourself -

Ross Shafer grew up in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington where he studied business management and played varsity football (linebacker). After college, he took a job as a training manager for a department store (Yard Birds) and was able to save $10,000. He took that money and launched his life as an entrepreneur. His first venture was as the owner/manager of America’s only Stereo and Pet Shop in the small town of Puyallup, Washington (population 5,000 at the time).

Cleaning pet cages wasn’t as appealing as it sounded to Ross, so after 3 years he closed the store and took a job as an advertising manager for the 28 store Squire Shops retail clothing chain in Seattle, Washington. Writing ad copy and concocting campaigns paid the bills, but at night Ross haunted local comedy clubs in search of a career in joke telling. After years of slogging around the comedy circuit, he won the Seattle International Comedy Competition and immediately became an opening act for performers like Crystal Gayle, Eddie Rabbitt, Nel Carter, Neil Sedaka, and Dionne Warwick.

In l985, Ross pitched a TV show idea to the NBC affiliate in Seattle (KING). It was a risky idea to emulate a local Letterman-like comedy talk show. Regardless, ALMOST LIVE was born and for the next 5 seasons Ross hosted the show while he and his team collected 36 Emmys. They won the Esquire Magazine dubious Achievement Award one year for attempting to change the Washington State song to Louie, Louie. During those years Ross also hosted an afternoon drive radio show on the 50,000 watt KJR-AM.

In l988, Ross was wooed by the Fox network to take over The Late Show. The Late Show was a nightly talk show that competed with The Tonight Show and David Letterman. The show lasted a year and Ross next found himself in New York co-hosting Days End on the ABC network. It was here that he sat beside Matt Lauer and Spencer Christian as they interviewed the movers and shakers of New York and the world. Dick Clark told Ross, Always have a back up plan, my boy, TV is terminal and predictably Days End was cancelled. Ross always wondered what happened to Matt Lauer? Ha!

The next stop for Ross was hosting the revised Match Game on the ABC network. Love Me, Love Me Not followed and numerous TV pilot projects.

By this time, Ross was headling all of the leading night clubs and casinos. He produced a highly acclaimed comedy album about the Clinton administration titled Inside The First Family. He also wrote a comedy cookbook that became a best seller; Cook Like A Stud – 38 recipes men can prepare in the garage with their own tools.

By l994, Ross heard Bill Gates give a speech where he said, Someday you will all be watching television on your telephones. Ross took that message to heart and he made the decision to leave TV and get back to his corporate training roots. Human nature and the human condition were always fascinating to him because that’s what comedians do. They study the laughter and tears business. To date Ross has produced (14) Human Resource training films on Customer Service, Motivation, Leadership, and Peer Pressure. He has authored the business books, Nobody Moved Your Cheese, Customer Empathy, The Customer Shouts Back, and his newly released Are You Relevant? 12 Reasons Smart Organizations Thrive in Any Economy.

Today, Ross is one of the most sought after Keynote speakers and seminar leaders on the subjects of Customer Empathy, Personal Motivation, and Business Relevance. The father of two grown sons, Adam and Ryan, he lives in southern California with his wife Leah and their daughter Lauren.

You can also view his video at http://www.executivespeakers.com/speakerDetails.asp?theSpeaker=857