Favorite People and Associations to Work With in 2013

I’m not so good with Christmas or Holiday cards.

Not to take anything away from people who are, but sometimes I think I get cards that don’t have any thought associated with them. I mean it’s a nice gesture and all, but I believe if one is really sincere, he or she takes a few moments to write something personal. (However, I’ll own up to the fact that I’m certainly not perfect and do fall into that trap myself sometimes.)

Anyway, what I like to do is wait until the holiday hub-bub has died down and then take a few moments to look back over the last year and send personal cards to my “favorite client” list for the year that just ended.

I causes me to really think about what’s important and be more sincere.

Then, I like to post it on line (as I’m doing here) because I believe good people deserve to be touted. Although I’m known as being a weight loss expert for baby boomers, my topics do include attitude and communication so I guess we could say this helps me communicate better and improves my own attitude. Hopefully it will do the same for you – as well as those wonderful people in this post.

With that in mind,  welcome to my “favorite people and groups to work with in 2013.”

(I’d like to come up with a name for my yearly awards but the “Scotty” doesn’t seem to fit.)

If you get a chance to work with any of these people, do it. Your life will be improved.

Having said that…in chronological order:

The year started out well as I got the opportunity to work with Lynn Morsen and the American Professional Transportation Association on a seminar for presentation skills in Palm Springs.

Aside from the posh location and the warm reception by the people in the room, the hospitality shown by Lynn and her staff was second-to-none.One additional thing that made this session so pleasant is that Lynn had originally reached out to me a few years prior to do some work in Eugene, Oregon. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it happen. However, she said she’d stay in touch.

True to her word, she did.Thank you Lynn and the APTA.
One of my favorite people, and repeat clients, is Peggy Kirby. I’ve worked with her and the National Foster Parent Association on a few occasions and I have been fortunate enough to team up with Peggy again to come back and do some presentations for the Louisiana Foster and Adoptive Parent Association at their annual conference in Bossier, City.

Aside from being friendly, efficient, and very supportive, Peggy makes you feel like family (maybe that’s because of her association with fostering?). Foster parent associations do not have large budgets but Peggy and crew do whatever they can to provide support in so many areas.

Any time, any place – I’d work with Peggy again.

Of course, talking about being healthy and losing weight is one of my favorite topics and I was really blessed from April to June, bouncing back and forth between both coasts, working with a whole lot of really energetic “forces of nature” in TOPS.

Aside from Nancy Morasco from Washington (who I wish I could hire as my agent), I was recently able to develop a professional (and now personal) relationship with Judy Pettit from New York. Each of these fantastic ladies bent over backwards to help provide great venues and powerful conferences. Through them I also met and worked with Jeannette Lambert of Oregon, Barbara Groves of Washington, Sylvia Arnone of New York, and got to sweat in the 117 degree heat of Arizona with Linda Genot and her crew.

Attendance ranged from about 300 to 700, which is always fun for a speaker but the “rock star status” they gave me was almost embarrassing. (I said “almost;” I loved it!) When I left Arizona, which was my last presentation of the group, I actually felt a sadness about leaving.

I look forward to coming back often – if they’ll let me. What a great group of people!

I am not an economist; I mean I keep my records clean and I pay my bills on time. So, I was a little nervous when I was asked to speak to the Washington Finance Officers Association (WFOA) by Ade Ariwoola.

However, it was wasted worrying as these dedicated folks who handle the financial affairs for cities, special districts, and municipalities in the Evergreen State were playful, welcoming, and engaged. I was fortunate enough to do two presentations, a workshop on attitude and communication, and the closing keynote.Ade checked on me regularly, making sure everything was in order. He even volunteered to ship my books and CDs back home for me.That’s great service!

Thanks Ade (as well as president Dan Mason (who gave me a wonderful testimonial).

Whenever I can do a local presentation, here in Humboldt County (especially in Eureka), I’m always delighted. No planes, no hassles, and I get to sleep in my own bed.

So, I was particularly delighted when Joyce Hayes of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center ask me to work with her.One of my very first engagements was for the HSRC and to have Joyce bring me back after all these years really felt like “coming home.” I was lucky enough to also work with Jane Hill of ArtSmart and the three of us put together a full day of activites and presentations to help HSRC’s staff in some transitions.Lots of laughter and great teamwork made this more a day of play than a day of work.

Joyce, don’t wait another decade to bring me back – and cudos to you for taking good care of your folks! (By the way Jane, let’s work together  again.)

It’s somewhat ironic that my final presentation for 2013 was associated with APTA and WFOA.

Kelly Priestly asked me to come back to Washington and do a four-hour workshop for the FIT (Finance and IT) division of Sound Transit, the public transit agency for the Seattle area.Many times, it can take a year or so to iron out the details on a speaking engagement. Not so when you work with Kelly! She’s a straight shooter (without being rude). She tells you what she needs and what she can do. She works quickly and everything is pretty much done on a handshake.Her enthusiasm for my topic was infectious and how easy it was to work with her made my last trip to Seattle memorable.

I hope we can continue the work we started. (And a special shout out to Laura who recorded a wonderful video testimonial for me!)

I’ve put links to the websites for each of the organizations I listed above. If you’re a speaker or presenter, you could do a heck of a lot worse than working for these folks. (However, you couldn’t do much better.)