Patrick's Desk

Quote

• Showed up to a New Jersey college knowing a representative from my sponsor Visa USA would be there to see how their tour was going. That night the tour went its very worst. Ten people in attendance and me, without any hosts, in total misery.
  
  

• Bought a new computer, showed up to do a presentation. Had tested my cables, at home, for compatibility. Of course, for some reason they wouldn't work at my actual event so I had no multimedia visuals.
  
  
• Put a notice for free copies of my book to a listserve. I thought this would be OK with my publisher. Oooops. I definitely wasn't. And they thought I was trying to be sneaky.
  
  
• Applied for five showcases this year, using a much improved demo tape, and didn't get selected for any - not even as an alternate. How many showcase rejections is that now? I've lost count.
  
  
• Had an unexpected, truly "off" night during a talk recently, where I felt so terrible about my performance that I wanted to sneak out the back door during my talk.
  
  
• Devoted two weeks to promoting a key show where directors from Visa Inc. were attending to evaluate my potential for a six figure sponsorship deal. Anticipated 200-300 students would attend. All that work, and somehow only 35 showed. The Visa people asked only one question, "Where is your audience?"
  
  
• did a talk that I felt super fantastic about, then received a comment card from a student that said, "I was really disappointed. You were so much more motivational last year. What happened to your enthusiasm?" I wanted to Die.
  
  

• Yet to get the royalty check that I've hoped for since the release of my book two years ago. Just haven't sold enough books yet.
  
  
• Showed up for a talk and found that 80% of my audience was football players, yet I didn't even THINK of using 'football stories' to relate to my audience - until immediately after the talk, of course.
  
  
• Did my motivational talk for an audience of 500. Despite the fact that it was a well-honed talk, on this night I was somehow off, and got this suggestion from a student: "Try doing a motivational talk instead of a lecture." Ouch! 500 students - not a single book sold or looked at.
  
  
• Heard it took an hour to get to the college where I was speaking next - figured I'd leave at noon, arrive by 1 PM and have an hour before my scheduled 2 PM start. At noon I found out it takes 4 hours to get there. I got there in two hours by driving 110 MPH. I got there at 2:05 PM, fortunately without a speeding ticket.
  
  
• Presented a new workshop at a conference for job trainers and was about as entertaining as a light bulb.