Transforming organisations

First time in the USA................

First time in the USA; first time at an NSA convention

Someone said, “What took you so long?” It might have been W. Mitchell.

Running a training and consultancy business in the UK for twenty years, living near the Black Mountains of Wales and right next to the beautiful River Wye, we get milk from the cows at the end of the road; we collect mushrooms from the field. What do we want to climb onto an aeroplane (airplane) for?

Well two things happened in our house last year. Firstly the teenagers started to rebel. Ursula at 15 said “I just don’t want another summer holiday in a tent in the Black Mountains”, and Alistair (13) agreed and invited me to “get a life”. Their mother smirked quietly on the other side of the table for she has always wanted to travel. She likes motorways, airports, and foreign countries. I regard a trip to Worcester, 27 miles east of Hereford as, well not quite a trip of a lifetime, but certainly a significant journey. I suppose you might wonder why she married me.

So there it was, three against one.

At about the same time I was invited to a Chapter meeting of the Professional Speakers Association (PSA) somewhere in Birmingham. Now that is 54 miles north west of Hereford so I had to think twice about making the commitment, but I was assured that I would enjoy it. To cut a long story short, I came home feeling a bit like Toad of Toad Hall after he had seen his first car. It was a mixture of excitement, amazement mixed up with a feeling of trepidation. You know that something has happened to you and that there is no way back. I knew I was going to have to become a speaker.

And so it was that a few months later I found myself wandering round Heathrow airport London, probably looking a little lost because there in front of me was Paul Bridle (CSP). Paul was striding round the foyer with the air of a man in control. He was waving here, waving there, he was even chatting to the staff working for Emirates, our airline for the day. Several PSA members were making a trip out to Dubai for a World CEO Forum and Paul was speaking there.

As we were going through customs it was my turn to dumbfound Paul. He asked which was my favourite airline and I replied that this was to be my second flight. He looked incredulous, rocked back on his heels and said “What?!”

Anyway Dubai led to Orlando just as camping in the Black mountains of Wales led to a family room at the World Center Marriott. When you step out at Orlando International Airport, you think that someone has made a mistake with the thermostat, but no it really is that temperature.

You step into a hire car and just as you push down on the clutch you realise it is in fact a brake. There is no clutch. All American cars are automatic. But at 56 I’m feeling pretty automatic myself after the flight. And so the car proceeds in a series of jerks for two and a half hours before we enter the premises of World Center Marriott. Two and a half hours? Yes, I think we took the scenic route. There were several times that the kids thought that they could see the hotel. After a while I knew they could because everyone in the car was screaming “there it is!!” but in between being flung into the windscreen and then waving apologetically to other bemused road users, we couldn’t actually find the entrance.

The room itself looked out onto the golf course and one morning when I was jogging sedately round, just before sunrise, I asked a golfer about the alligators. He said that yes there is a seven foot beast up near the tenth and another larger animal resides near the fifteenth. I said “thanks” and proceeded to confine my exercise to the tarmacadam for the rest of the week. On the Saturday an entire squadron of fifty golf buggies were lined up and it occurred to me that no one walks round golf courses any more, certainly not at the World Center Marriott Orlando.

When you first see the Crystal Ballroom you think just how much did this carpet cost? I mean it is no ordinary carpet but the ballroom, well I don’t think we have anything quite that size in the UK, certainly not in Hereford.

It was great to be there a couple of days early, before the Convention began, just to watch the build up. I was really impressed by the organisation, the teamwork and the friendliness of everyone dealing with the delegates as they arrived. Sharon, my wife was staggered when we signed in. Brian, Dulce and Sue were on the desk but no sooner than Sharon had given our names than Sue asked how Alistair and Ursula were settling in. We just looked at each other.

As the beginning drew nearer so the excitement and tempo began to build. We just went with the flow, looking forward to hearing some legendary speakers that we had encountered on VOE but not actually seen. Of course by the Saturday we were also gearing up for the Youth Leadership Conference. We had taken a flyer with the kids really, kind of saying that it would be better than a couple of weeks camping in the Black Mountains of Wales, but how could we know for sure?

At the Youth Opening General Session it was Michael Scott Karpovich that knocked us out. He very quickly gained rapport with parents and children alike. However, nothing prepared us to watch son Alistair being held upside down by one leg after just a quarter of an hour of ‘Karpo’s’ talk. What a great presentation it was and it set the scene for our two. By evening time they were buzzing and so it was that every night we were able to reconvene and share the events and excitement of the day.

Certainly it really enhanced our convention massively knowing that the two children were up and ready to go each morning, usually before us. We shared a room at the World Centre Marriott and that could have been a challenge, but such was the interest of each day, it was simply high quality family time. It’s not every day that my daughter Ursula and I find so much to talk about.

Back home now with a shed full of notes from all the talks we heard. There are cd’s to listen to and so much to put into practice. Beverly Babb sent me an NSA Operations Manual because I chair the PSA 07 convention in London. What a great help that is and we are already learning from it in time for our November 06 Convention at The Belfry in Birmingham.

So what do I do with the tent? The children have already been on the San Diego website; Ursula thinks she can book some cheap flights if we do it now.


Tim Kidson September 2006

posted by Tim @ 5:34 AM