SagePresence

BE CONNECTED on Sep 29

When we first conceived of a BREAKFAST version of BE CONNECTED, we weren't at all sure it would work. We couldn't start it so early that people would have to wake up at the crack of dawn, and we couldn't start it so late that it would end at lunch time. So we fit it in from 7:30 to 10:30 am and crossed our fingers that people would be interested.

Well, the gamble seems to have worked. So far we've got 29 people on the participants list, and the event is almost two weeks out. That strongly suggests that by the time the event actually comes, we're going to have well over 50 -- a great number of people to work with, network with, and build relationships with!

We'd like to invite you all to join us. It's going to be a great event!

Check out the details here: http://www.sagepresence.com/programs.html#BC

May 13 BE CONNECTED a Roaring Success!

Enjoying almost fifty participants and raising $319 for Senegalese children in danger of dying of malaria, the May 13 session of BE CONNECTED to Effective Networking was an undeniable success.

Starting at 4:00, we could tell it was going to be a special night when the buzz started to build early, a buzz I attributed to the prospect of saving lives with Project Safety Nets. As volunteer Lee Tyree assisted us in welcoming our guests with free issues of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the room gathered an undeniable momentum that turned into something truly emotional when SagePresence screenwriter-in-resident Bill True introduced of Ann Dillard, the Plymouth Rotary Club member in charge of Project Safety Nets.

Bill set a powerful tone for the evening, which only continued to build as we delivered our newly modified presentation, which stressed group practice and experience more than ever. As we covered the Thinking, Feeling, and Talking of networking, the excitement in the room grew undeniably palpable.

Finally, everyone in the room was ready to get to the networking. They now knew what to do and how to do it, so we let them loose, and the atmosphere just bubbled over into a joyous cacophony of professionals discovering how they could help each other.

Everyone ate, drank and networked until we called everyone back together again to learn how the experience of applying new networking skills went for people.

The feedback we got was tremendous. People had discovered newfound freedom in an activity that they had always experienced to be challenging and frustrating. Stories were told about possibilities and opportunities being born in the room. 

Lee Tyree did two drawings for Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal give-aways, and Ann spoke to the room about the difference everyone was making for Senegalese children that night, as they ate and drank and networked.

This was truly a special night for SagePresence. We've had fantastic BE CONNECTED events in the past, but this was the first that was dedicated to something larger than us, larger than the professionals we're dedicated to helping. This was about giving to the world outside ourselves, saving lives as we grow professionally.

Thanks to one and all who participated!

The most important BE CONNECTED TO EFFECTIVE NETWORKING yet on May 13

We would like to invite you to what we believe just might be the most important BE CONNECTED To Effective Networking yet.

We are partnering with the Rotary Club of Plymouth to support Project Safety Nets, whose mission is to provide medical, educational, and financial support members of underserved communities in Senegal.  This support includes, but is not limited to mosquito bed nets to protect against malaria, school and health supplies, educational opportunities to empower women entrepreneurs, and a student pen pal program.

A child under age five dies every 30 seconds of malaria in Africa -- over 1,000,000 each year.  A simple mosquito bed net is critical to keep them safe from this deadly disease, so they can grow to live a full life!

How does attending BE CONNECTED on May 13 help?  Here's how: For every paid registrant to our May 13 event, SagePresence will donate money to purchase a mosquito net for a child.  If 50 people show up, we pay for 50 nets.  If 100 people show up, we pay for 100!

Even better!  The money we raise will be matched 100% by Rotary District 5950, and quite likely 150% by Rotary International. In other words, for each registration at BE CONNECTED, as much as $17.50 will be directed towards savings kids' lives in Senegal.

So, we're very excited to invite you to join us:

BE CONNECTED To Effective Networking
Wednesday, May 13
4 to 7 pm
1000 Westgate Drive
St Paul, MN  55114
(in the midway area, very close to University Ave & Highway 280)

Please don't hesitate.  Visit www.sagepresence.com to register for BE CONNECTED To Effective Networking today.  Find out why people are calling it "transformational" and the best networking event they've attended.

And spread the word!  The more the merrier... and the more children we can save together

Seattle writes: Dear SagePresence – How do I stay "up" when my team gives me nothing but "down"?

Question submitted by a corporate team-leader who saw Dean Hyers and Bill True speak on Emotional Intelligence

(responded to by Dean Hyers)

Thanks for asking. We have an easy, reliable remedy. 

And you're going to have to be consistent in building a new pattern. Right now, some members of your team have a "death-grip" on their misery. This can take time to turn around, and you want to be part of your own team, without polarizing the "sides" by blowing sunshine at them when they aren't ready for it. It's like something I heard in a really good seminar by John Sweeney of the Brave New Workshop, who talked about turning a "no, but" conflict into a "yes and" compatibility. This is kind of what you need to do. Bring positive and negative into the same universe!

First, your problem. You want to be positive to bring up the team toward the good vision you have for whatever tough situation you all face together. But they're bringing you down, and with it, your confidence, your conviction, and your optimism.

Second, their problem. They're feeling burned out. They're weary. It really is hard to be them right now. They need empathy.

Third, the conflict. Isn't this nothing more than fear? You're afraid that if you see it their way, you (and your team) will grind to a halt. (Not to mention, you like your work, and they are miserable. What will happen if you stoop to their misery?) But your positiveness is a slap in the face to them. It threatens their desire to avoid change, and their hopes to have you (the leader) change the situation around them.

Your Revelation:  We want you to recognize that you can meet them all the way (as in, go to their misery) and still get back to where you are (the positive optimist you want to be and really are). Humans have this ridiculous notion that if I feel what you feel, I'll lose myself in it. But don't worry. You can empathize and still get back. And you need to, so they feel heard, understood, and cared about.

The Method: What you need to do is this:

1) Join them where they are - both in words and feelings: (You can't beat 'em anyway.) The beginning of a conversation with someone committed to their own misery is to meet them where they are by actively listening and checking your understanding of where they are. You need to be able to speak back to them their situation to their satisfaction. Speak to both the situation and the way they feel about it. Ask them questions until you're sure.

But where we differ from standard "active listening" is that it's not enough to just spit back the words (although that is critical). You need to feel it with them. The way you get there is to simply ask yourself, "Can I open myself up to feeling what they're feeling?" Together, the words identify the understanding you have, and feeling it with them creates the experience of true empathy.

"Let me check my understanding. You are furious right now, because the night crew, who's supposed to be your backup is actually sending their work to you to do... That is very frustrating." (feel it as you discuss it).

2) Then you may take them to your positive vision: Once you haven properly empathized with their situation and the way they feel about it, you're free to show them your positive side, and the vision you have to improve what they're frustrated about. You're not trapped in their negativity. "Here's where I believe we can get to, if we work together." 

If you want, you can do this as an exploration, and actually get their participation in defining where you're trying to go. But in my experience, someone who's truly committed to staying negative isn't going to help you define the better place. Plus, your vision might not be up for discussion anyway. But their participation can be major leverage for you. 

Regardless, after your willingness to go to where they are (with both head and heart), they are much more likely to be drawn to where your head and heart are in your positive vision. Feel it, as you describe your vision, and they will, at the very least, not be threatened by your positiveness.

3) Discuss the actions you both need to take: Only then, after joining them where they are, then showing them where you are (feeling their negative with them, and feeling your positive for them), can you define what you want them to do in terms of action steps. 

It's important that you reduce your positive when you talk about what needs to be done. Don't get me wrong, you're not being negative, you're just reducing your positive. This is important because they are the ones who have to do most of the work. So don't be all "peppy" when you talk about the hard work they have to do. Be just on the positive edge of serious – warmly serious. That takes the "slap" off your positive. 

Also, if possible, talk about what your actions steps too. Do this because you don't want to look like you're not part of it. Sharing your own responsibilities (even if they're nothing more than supervising or checking up on progress) makes them feel less alone in the dismal realities of doing the work.

Summary: That's the way to deal with negative downers in your team: You feel and define their negative (empathy), feel and define your positive (before their very eyes), and define (with a low-level positive) the things that need to happen to get where you're trying to go. 

Put even more simply: With your head and with your heart, go where they are, take them where you are, and define what needs to get done!

Best of luck and write back if you're still having problems!

Rocky 2 - Not a Great Movie, But an Apt Metaphor

At the climax of Rocky 2, the battling demigod boxers Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa throw simultaneous punches at each other and collapse together in slow-motion to the mat at their feet. Time slows further as the referee counts to ten, and the two contenders struggle to get back up to their feet, both knowing that the one who gets up first wins the heavyweight championship of the world.

It seems to me that this is the scenario that many of us are living in right now, the only difference being, we're not aware of it. We've been knocked down to the mat. We're hurting, we're tired, we're scared. What we don't realize, though, is that our competitors are in the exact same position.

We're all experiencing an amazing opportunity -- we just don't realize it. All we have to do is find the fortitude, the resources, the strength and courage to get back up again. And the difference between winning and not winning is in getting up just a little bit faster than our competitors.

I see the SagePresence CONFIDENT PRESENTING Series as a resource to help professionals and companies do just that.

So many of us think of this time as the right time to stop spending, to hunker down and wait out the financial freeze. But I think that's fear talking. I think hunkering down is a formula for slow-motion failure.

Now that business is slow, we finally have the time and energy to focus on building infrastructure. Now is the ideal time to take advantage of the opportunity and build our ability to represent ourselves. Now is the time to invest in our skills, to strengthen our ability to make connections and win people over. Because THAT'S what's going to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.

The thing that's going to get us back on our feet isn't money, it's confidence. It's the certainty that we already have what it takes to stand on our own two feet, despite the world telling us we should be scared and helpless.

It's the very definition of winning presence.

SagePresence at the Austin Film Festival

I've journaled extensively about my personal experiences at this year’s Austin Film Festival over at my Ordinary Life Unordinary blog. Feel free to take a look at that and enjoy!

Here, however, I wanted to take a moment to focus on something I learned as a result of bringing SagePresence with me to the AFF.  It came as I was called upon to moderate three panels over the course of the screenwriters conference.

This was my fourth years as a panelist at the AFF.  The panelist thing is really fun and pretty easy.  You show up, answer some questions, and try to be helpful and sound pithy doing it.  That’s about it.  And you’re the center of attention.  People are there to listen to you, and they hang on virtually every word.  For a hambone like yours truly, what’s not to love?

But participating in the AFF conference isn’t all about me.  Sure…I get plenty of value out of the networking inherent in the experience.  If I am practicing what I preach in our SagePresence networking training, though, that’s not my immediate goal, right?  It’s about the helping others write their happy endings with actions by my network helping them to accomplish that.

For me, the AFF is really about the “pay it forward”.

In a pre-AFF post on my OLU blog, I’d told readers that I one of the reasons I’d offered to be a moderator for this year’s conference was because “I think it's a really good idea, having actual screenwriters moderating some of the panels.  Being that the participants are, you know, screenwriters, guys like me know the questions they're burning to get answered.  Because they're same ones I want answered.”

So I walked into the experience with a sense of heightened responsibility.  And more than a little anxiety…the “What the heck did I get myself into” variety.  Moderating panels was not going to be the cakewalk being a panelist was.  Yet, turns out this moderating thing was the ultimate “SagePresence” experience.

This is what I mean.  The way I saw it, my job as moderator was threefold:

1. Help audience members operationalize the information they received in the panel in their own situations.
2. Keep the conversation engaging and moving forward.
3. Make the panelists look good.

Here’s what I did to make this happen:

Applied Story Structure to Each Panel – If audience members were going to follow the conversation and understand how to apply it, they needed to understand how it related to them directly.  As I sat down to prepare for each panel, I asked myself the same story structure questions we teach our participants:

1. As it pertains to <<insert topic here>>, what does a screenwriter’s happy ending (situation and feeling) look like?
2. What is the most likely situation and feeling they have in common today (presumably not-so-happy)?
3. What are three steps—analyze the situation, act on it, report and verify results—they can take to facilitate the change from their not-so-happy beginning to the happier ending?

When I did this, suddenly, I knew how to introduce the panel.  I simply painted a picture of the beginning and end situations and feelings, then asked the question: “How do we get from where we are today to where we want to be?”  My questions to the panelists were all about things I had identified in my research as being pertinent to possible actions audience members could take to get to the end.

Used Appreciation – Something that was very apparent in the first panel (and carried through the rest of them, too) was that there was one person who was determined get his or her point across if it meant they needed to use the entire panel time to do it.  I quickly realized that I could use the same method we teach for networking conversations to help these panelists disengage and hand the floor over to someone else.

What did I do..?  I appreciated them.  I would look at them while honestly appreciating them and say something like, “Wow.  That’s interesting.  Great point.”  When they took a moment to thank me for the acknowledgement, I took the opportunity to then say, “Let’s take a moment and get <<name of other panelist>>’s take on that.”  It really worked!

The panelists whose tendency it was to take center stage and keep it, in fact, thanked me afterward.  Turns out all of them were nervous and appreciated back my helping them close our their points and look more collaborative alongside the other panelists.  How cool…I was simply trying to keep the conversation moving and keep it a little more balanced between the panelists.  But appreciation works in mysterious and unexpected ways.

Used Connection to Instill Connection – Remember when I said that some of the panelists were nervous?  Actually, most of them were that way.  And last year, I moderated a panel where one filmmaker, who was very shy, looked at the ground and mumbled every time a question was pointed at him.  I was determined to not repeat history this year.  I wanted my panelists to shine.

I had a theory that I wanted to put to the test.  I knew that if I tried to actively make connections with an audience, my presence was enhanced.  I wondered whether if I did the same with a fellow panelist then, once they got out of their own heads and got their presence feet under them, if it wouldn’t help them.

The idea was to make the connection, then look out into the audience and make a connection with someone there, then say, as I was connected to that audience member something like, “I wonder how that would apply to the folks in the audience.”  And it worked.  The panelist would look right at the person I was connected to, keep the connection going, and answer my question like they were talking to the person in the audience.  From there, the panelist, now feeling what it felt like to make a connection (not to mention being out of their own head) was more relaxed and real and fun.  Not to mention more inspiring.

So…that’s how I became a better moderator by bringing SagePresence to the panel experience.  One other thing I know, by the way…being a moderator was exhausting!  You’re on every second, managing the flow of information, the flow of the conversation, and the flow of the vibe in the room.  Yet, I can’t wait to try my hand at it again sometime very soon.

SagePresence on selling

This is an article I wrote for the Professional Sales Association after Dean and I did a presentation there a week or so ago.  I thought I would share it here, too.  Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - -

Friday before last, SagePresence had the pleasure of speaking at a PSA breakfast meeting.  It was a great morning, and my partner Dean Hyers and I were honored to bring our method to inspire others to decisive action through connecting with appreciation and leveraging story structure for our messages to the group.

As I was packing up to leave, PSA President Cindy Mikolajczyk said something that really resonated with me: “Thank you for your talk about connecting…about inspiring and not pushing, and about the win-win.  As sales people, we don’t hear messages like that.  But we all know that really is the way it should work and the way it really does work.”

As a guy who spent years in the sales trenches, I knew she was right.  I knew the best sales I ever made were those were I knew I’d found the win-win.  Where I was able to achieve a real chemistry with my customer and find that elusive space where we both gave a little and got what we needed at the same time.

These were also the sales that tended to get me in hot water with my bosses.  Because they rarely fit the mold of what the conventional wisdom—the well-established “rules” set down in sales manuals from time immemorial—dictated.

According to this “wisdom”, the sales process was something like a chess game.  My job was to stay one step ahead of a potential customer’s objections and ultimately wear them down to the point where they couldn’t see any more reasons to say no.  Now, I am not here to pass judgment on anyone or any process.  In fact, I will tell you that this mode accomplished the basic mission of “sell, sell, sell”.  Also, it provided very clear marching orders for me to follow with each prospect.

But wait…let’s look at the last word in the preceding paragraph.  “Prospect.”  Merriam-Webster’s defines the word—that is, the one in the zone of “possibility”, which seems to most apply in this situation—as “something that is awaited or expected.”

Here’s the rub with the conventional wisdom.  First off, “prospects” don’t buy things…people do.  Second, even if I presume to remember my customers’ humanity, telling myself I am concerned about their needs or giving them a fair deal, it doesn’t change the facts.  If I’m approaching the sale from this vantage point, I view my customer as being there to help me make me a sale. I am focused on me.

I didn’t like selling this way.  I did it when I “had to”, but I admit that I avoided customers and lost opportunities—or fell into the zone of “order taker”—because following this conventional wisdom felt…bad.

Why did it feel bad?  I need to answer that question with another question.

What’s the number one thing that undoes sales people?  It’s the same thing that undoes presenters: focusing on ourselves.  When our attention is on ourselves, we can’t make a connection with others.  Our anxiety rises, and it continues to rise because we get caught in a feedback loop of first, self-examination, and second, self-recrimination.  We try to hide our anxiety by feeling (or give the impression we are) less nervous.  Problem is, shutting down our feelings shuts down our presence.  It warps how we present ourselves in high-stakes moments.  In some cases, this causes us to avoid the situation altogether, which in the case of the sales person means avoiding the very thing that makes them a living.

Although Cindy’s right that very few sales managers seems to talk about selling strategies in terms of achieving chemistry or finding the win-win, someone has been talking about it.  It’s been nearly 25 years, believe it or not, since Spenser Johnson, in his groundbreaking bestseller, “The One-Minute Sales Person”, told the world about “a very successful sales person” who got there by helping others get what they want.

The good news is that we don’t have to have to subscribe to the conventional wisdom in order to be good sales people.  In fact, Johnson’s method, which broke my world wide-open, only works if our goal is a win-win.  It begs for us to take our attention off ourselves and put it where it belongs—on our customers.

At the PSA meeting, we learned from Dean that pointing our attention on our listener is the first step to building a connection with them.  We actively and intentionally appreciate something about them to help us put our focus on them, as we saw in the presentation that it’s impossible to appreciate someone and focus on ourselves at the same time.

This is, I believe, the reason behind the reason that Cindy was so excited after our presentation.  She saw how our talk illuminated some truth about selling—that the conventional wisdom isn’t the only way.  Further, if we can make sales, keep the attention off ourselves, and achieve the win-win maybe we can dread the process less and come to actually enjoy it.

RECAP: Two Fine Evenings with Minnesota Women In Film and Television

SagePresence frequently enjoys the honor of participation in conferences and events oriented toward professional women, but a new twist occurred when a conference focused on professional women in film involved us in presenting and coaching.

Two weeks ago, Bill and I led a seminar for MNWIFT about developing the perfect pitch for film, television, media or business ideas. We focused as we usually do, combining what writers know about crafting story-structured messages with what actors employ when delivering powerfully under pressure.

Bill and I both recognized a "homecoming" feeling as we brought our SagePresence principles back to where they came from. I had the thrill of presenting to people I remembered from my production crew on Bill's Gun Shop and Bill described it as his first real bonding with the film community locally, since most of his film work has been in LA.

Two nights ago, Bill and I returned to MNWIFT, but this time with partner Pete Machalek, together sharing the goal of providing coaching and tips to MNWIFT patrons at a crucial time – because this second event included a panel of industry professionals who listen to pitches for a living. The panel would share knowledge initially, and then accept pitches from 40 some people who signed up to pitch.

Actual pitches to actual industry professionals – and our contribution to the event was to be a resource to pitching patrons, helping them with their story structure and coaching them on their delivery.

Among the judges was one of my producers from Bill's Gun Shop, Ann Luster, one of the most prolific local producers around.

Also amongst the judges was Cathy Ditoro of Campbell Mithun Advertising, the Advertising monolith who acquired my first company, the "little NewMedia train that could," Digital Cafe.

It was really nice to be in a position to help other people deal with their frazzled nerves and with organizing their "sea of information" into something you could pitch. I recognized myself in a lot of the people who came to our table for advice. "I have no idea how to do this," was a common statement, and it was very gratifying to work with them, and then have them return to the table a little while later and tell us that it went very well.

From the moment the panelists were done speaking, and the pitching process began, I was never able to leave my station at the booth. I remember helping a woman pitch a reality TV show idea to the television distributors in the judging panel, and I looked over to see Bill and Pete engaged with their own clientele.

It was cool to watch them work. I'm kind of the "extra" when it comes to pitching coaching, except where performance is concerned. But a lot of the real work here is story structuring, which I can do, but nothing like Bill and Pete can.

When I paused to listen in on Bill coaching someone, it was clearly the tier above, but when my clients returned feeling great about themselves and how they'd done, I knew that one way or another, we were all pulling our weight.

After hours of pitching and coaching, we enjoyed a red zin with the MNWIFT hosts, JoAnne (JoJo) Liebeler and Aleshia Mueller, along with David Garber, the President of Lantern Lane Entertainment, who promised to let Bill and I take him to lunch when we're in Los Angeles later in the fall.

Thanks, Amy Brewster, Meighan McGuire, Aleshia Mueller, JoAnne (JoJo) Liebeler, and Carly Zuckweiler, and all the fine patrons, members and volunteers of MNWIFT!

Is There a Place for Kindness In Politics?

All this week, the Q Kindness Cafe in St. Paul is leveraging the national exposure brought to the city by the Republican National Convention by hosting a series of "Conversation Cafes," facilitated round-table conversations that pose a question related to the RNC's theme-of-the-day.

Lisa Cotter Metwali, co-proprietor of the Cafe and a professional coach in her own right, invited me to lead a conversation on Monday based on the RNC's theme of Service.

Being very interested in the current state of political affairs, I jumped at the chance. Since completing my graduate degree in communications, I have been of the opinion that a democracy needs healthy public debate about the issues affecting our society, our culture, and our world, and I've questioned how well we as citizens are doing in maintaining the health of our democracy.

So I asked the group in attendance, "As members of a community, we're all challenged to be aware of current events, form opinions about them, and communicate those opinions. What is the relationship of that challenge and the concept of service to the rest of the country?"

To be honest, it was an abstract question that took a little while for people to digest. After some discussion, the group helped me reduce the question to, "Does it serve our community for each of us to speak our mind about issues? If so, how does it serve the community?"

The process of going through the conversation was a fascinating one that Lisa facilitated. She took us through three rounds of each person in the room delivering their response to the question in 2 minutes or under. I had the pleasure of speaking at the end of each round, which gave me the opportunity to digest the thoughts of everyone else before speaking.

My favorite insight from the whole event came from another professional in attendance whose focus is on facilitating professional connections, named Marianne Badar Ohmann. Marianne said that expressing our opinions does indeed serve the people that we speak with, but that soliciting the opinions from these other people provides even more value to them.

I was just bowled over by that remark. And as I process it now, I realize that her input provided a great deal of value and service to me, and that the whole process of the Conversation Cafe did as well. Thank you, Lisa, Marianne, and everyone else in attendance today! It was a pleasure to have served, and to have been served by you all!

When Sage Meets WOLF

A few years ago, Dean had an opportunity to see a senior VP at Best Buy speak. Her name was Julie Gilbert, and she was presenting to a group of women who were participating in a leadership development program that Julie had created called WOLF (WOmen's Leadership Forum).

Ever since then, Dean has used Julie as a shining example of powerful presenting in our presentations and training workshops. He's talked about her as an amazingly inspiring speaker who is able to fill a stage and maintain the attention of everyone in the room, not by being outsize and larger than life, but by being authentic, true to herself and her ideals, and absolutely passionate about her convictions.

I've been wanting to see her in action since the first time he told me about her, and every time he's mentioned her since, my curiosity has grown. Could she really be as good as he says she is? Dean has, for me, always been the closest thing to really embodying the qualities we speak about. So if he's this excited about somebody else, they've got to be good.

Dean and I were invited out to Boston the week of August 18 to speak at this year's WOLF conference, a gathering of 3,000 women (and a few men) from within and without Best Buy who are all actively participated in the WOLF program.

We were excited to have been selected as speakers. Our presentation was called "You Had Me At Hello: How to Generate Powerful Connections At Will," which was a carefully chosen topic for this group, designed to fit what we understood the heart of WOLF's mission to be.

As it turns out, the topic was indeed a great fit. And I think I learned the first evening we were out there why we were such a good fit.

It's because Julie Gilbert truly is a living demonstration of what we talk about.

Julie makes the most powerful connections with audiences I've ever seen, and she does it with absolute authenticity and deeply felt emotions that are clear expressions of her convictions. She is passionate and caring, true to herself, and utterly focused on what she wants for other people.

Julie has taken on the mission to have women be who they authentically are, to have them pursue their dreams regardless of the circumstances that surround them. She's all about authentic, full-tilt expression, and she's all about interpersonal connection based on authentic appreciation.

I was absolutely blown away by her in that opening presentation. She spoke for an hour to 3,000 excited participants from a huge stage. Despite the scope of the scenario, despite the glitziness of the setting, despite the number of people in the audience and the bright lights and all the potential distractions, she clearly made a connection with absolutely everyone in the auditorium. The emotion was palpable, not only because Julie herself clearly felt and expressed it, but because she was connected to everyone in there, and they felt it too. Julie connected us all emotionally, and she brought us where she wanted us to go. Where we needed to go for that conference to go the way it was designed to go.

Dean had to leave the opening session early to handle a hotel issue, so when I met up with him after it was over, he asked me how it went. I told him that I was ready to write Julie Gilbert in as a presidential candidate. Dean laughed, because he remembered thinking the same thing after the first time he saw her.