Heroes Offer Reassurance From Behind the Lectern

Nobody’s booking Bush-bashers. And there’s not much demand for techno-wonks. It’s heroes--the old-fashioned kind like soldiers, police officers and firefighters--who are now in demand on the lecture circuit.

The agencies that book convention keynoters and rubber chicken circuit speakers are starting to recover from the one-two punch brought on by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: canceled airline flights and canceled meetings.

Now as groups start booking again, they want speakers who can talk about patriotism, terrorism, bioterrorism and cyberterrorism, personal and corporate security and other topics that rarely were mentioned before the attacks. Listeners want to be motivated, inspired and comforted.

“Right now, all audiences want to hear about is, ‘Is the country safe?’ and ‘Is my money safe?’ says Jim Keppler, president of the booking agency Keppler Associates in Arlington, Va.

There’s been a “profound change,” he says. Before Sept. 11, speakers on national security issues were of “marginal interest. Now they’re of the utmost importance to convention audiences.” One of his most-requested: Army Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He reports high interest, too, in journalists, as happens “anytime there’s a big news story. Those just returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan are hot.” Conversely, “some of the things that were hot are taking a back seat. A lot of [speakers] were critical of President Bush and the administration. Nobody wants to hear about that right now. And police brutality isn’t a real hot topic. People want to get behind law enforcement.”

“Audiences want to hear from people who are patriots,” says Don Epstein, president of New York-based Greater Talent Network. “Like the firemen, the policemen, the survivors. Those people are true heroes.”

He says, “I don’t think any one of us really relishes the fact that what is hot at this point is based on the terrible incidents of Sept. 11.” But, that being said, he adds, it is “extremely important” to clients right now to get information on political and government issues.

Although some speakers have exclusive contracts with bureaus, most can be booked through numerous agencies, much as a travel agent books clients on various airlines or cruise ships.

And whom are they booking these days? Former POWs, historians and authors such as David McCullough (“John Adams”), assorted retired generals and futurists such as Daniel Burrus, who talks on turning rapid change into personal advantage, and psychologist Robert Kriegel, author of “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It,” whose message is about riding the wave of change through unconventional thinking. Lance Armstrong, three-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor, is an inspirational speaker who is a top draw but commands a fee out of most groups’ reach.

There’s a definite shift to motivational speakers, those who “can instill a sense of faith in America and optimism about our future,” Keppler says. Among his most-requested: former HUD secretary and New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and Gene Kranz, former NASA flight director, “one of those no-nonsense, crew-cut guys” who draws a parallel between John F. Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the moon and America’s current challenges.

In the last few years, groups have wanted adventurers such as Mt. Everest climbers, says Mark Castel, president of Boston-based American Entertainment International. Now, “people have shifted gears a little bit. They’re saying, ‘We want something a little more patriotic,’ something dealing with their country, dealing with God, dealing with America being able to overcome and the human spirit being able to achieve despite the threats.”

For the first weeks after the attack, things looked bleak for the industry. Cancellations and reschedulings were “a huge problem,” says Jim Montoya, executive vice president of the Indianapolis-based International Assn. of Speakers Bureaus, a trade association representing 100-plus agencies. First, the airlines were grounded, stranding speakers and making it impossible for people to get to meetings.

Once flights resumed, he says, meetings still were being canceled out of fear. Even now, he says, he’s shocked to hear how many speakers are refusing to fly. “And that’s what these people do--travel and speak to make a living.”

Some of those who continue on the circuit have modified their presentations to make them more relevant. McCullough, for example, has expanded on his theme of history as a source of strength to make the commitment of the Founding Fathers even more relevant to these troubled times.

While retired Navy Capt. Gerald Coffee, a POW in Vietnam for seven years, has always stressed the power of the human spirit, and how the POWs together overcame diversity, his message suddenly seems more important, Castel says. “He’s always talked about God and country, which people want to hear even more now.”

Castel mentions, too, that retired Marine Col. Oliver North, the controversial conservative who was a central figure in the Iran-Contra affair, has “made a resurgence” on the lecture circuit. “Despite what some people might think about him, he’s a patriot, somebody who can address the issues about uniting the country.”

Andrea Gold, president of Gold Stars Speakers Bureau in Tucson, Ariz., says there’s strong demand for speakers who deliver “feel good” talks, sometimes referred to as “fluffy,” and pep talks with a let’s-get-on-with-business message.

And, she adds, “fear of flying and getting into skyscrapers” are big topics. “I’d never before had a demand [for that], and I’ve been doing this for 12 years.” She turned to L.A.-based psychologist John Alston, who crafted a talk on “A New World Reality: Getting Over the Rough Spots.”

Paxton Quigley, author and self-defense instructor, has expanded her talks on safety issues for women, Castel says, to include “how to protect against a terrorist on an airplane.” Castel also is booking Mike Levine, a one-time undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Latin America, who “has a whole talk on terrorism and the mind of a terrorist.”

As a recession looms, the economy is a hot topic as well. “The whole thing of keeping your business going, that’s a big issue,” Gold says. She “just placed Barbara Bush for a travel group” in Houston. “If one industry was just totaled by all this, it was the travel industry. She’s going to talk on the positive aspects of travel.”

When in a recent survey Gold Stars asked companies how events of Sept. 11 had affected their meeting or convention content, one respondent said: “We mildly toned down some of our ‘kill the competition’ metaphors.”

Chief Executive Michelle Lemmons-Poscente of Dallas-based International Speakers Bureau says, “Prior to Sept. 11, people were looking for [speakers] with more content, those who had specific tools, how to do whatever. Since then, demand for motivational speakers has almost doubled. People just want to be happy and feel good.”

Today, she says, a company may call and say there have been layoffs and employees are frightened. “They don’t know if they’re going to have a job tomorrow. Or they’re having to do more with less pay.” For them, she suggests a speaker on overcoming obstacles.

Right after the tragedy, Castel says, he had a lot of cancellations of humorous speakers. “People didn’t think it was appropriate to be entertained.” But humor is starting to make a comeback on the circuit.

The political satirists, such as Mark Russell, Rich Little and the Washington-based Capitol Steps “have certainly felt an effect,” says Keppler, but have not been affected as much as humorists with less name recognition, or those who preach “humor in the work force or beating stress through good humor.”

“Humor and laughter are part of the healing process,” says Epstein, but “it’s a very, very difficult time right now. It has to be done very diplomatically.” That means that humorists who’ve historically traded on socking it to the occupant of the Oval Office are now making jokes about other things “that are not offensive.”

Zelda Kelly, owner of Bravo Speakers Bureau in Sausalito, is hearing a new word in her speaker requests: “community.” A computer company seeking a keynoter specifically asked that community be addressed. Says Kelly, “Building teamwork has always been something corporations were interested in. I had not heard them use the word ‘community’ before.”

While mentioning that “the patriotic theme is big,” Epstein observes, “Most of the people out there [on the circuit] have not tried to capitalize in any way, shape or form on Sept. 11. I think that’s the most patriotic thing.”

And, he adds, “The most important thing” is that these speakers are free to go out and talk about what’s on their minds and the collective mind of America. “This is a huge weapon right now.”