N.O. Part IV- Popular Appearances

If you have missed the first two posts in my New Orleans/NIRSA series, feel free to catch up and check them out--- Food, Mardi Gras World, and Site Seeing!

Every year NIRSA hires and brings in volunteer speakers, this year we had three phenomenal speakers at our conference... Archie Manning, The Ripples Guy, and Dr. Maura Cullen!  We were also fortunate to have Patrick House come visit us!

Archie Manning

Archie was the speaker for our opening ceremony... it was a fantastic way to kick off the conference!  He spoke on leadership and shared many of his own experiences as a player with the Saints and then on into being a father of the Manning boys in the NFL now.  His speech was entertaining, hilarious, and very heartfelt all in one.  One of my favorite quotes from him was "Being a leader is like being a lady, if you need to say you are one, you're probably not".  Initially it made me laugh, and the more I thought about it, the more it sank in as a true analogy.  He did not stick around for autographs or anything that I know of, which I was bummed about, but it is still cool to be able to say that I heard him speak.  Here is a video that has clips from various talks he has given, many of the clips are things he mentioned to us. 

The Ripples Guy

Also known as Paul Wesslemann, was an incredible speaker!  He had a LOT of energy and never lost your attention for a second.  I liked him so much that I went to two of his sessions, one of stress and one on motivation.  Paul was grateful enough to email me with a an overview of what he talked about during the stress management session.  Here are the four keys to stress management:

• Assess
• Acknowledge 
• Act
• Appreciate 

Here is a sneak preview of how great he is... this is a speech similar to the one he gave at NIRSA.

If you're interested in learning more about the four keys shoot me an email or leave me a comment and I would be more than happy to share the overview with you.  Some of you may know Paul as the guy who sends out little bits of joy everyday through quotes like "Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth... tame the dragon and the gift is yours".  Some days these messages speak right to you, other days they may be meant for someone you know, hence the "ripple" effect.  If you would like to get connected with The Ripples Guy or learn more about him you can do so the following ways:

Twitter: Ripples Guy

Facebook: Paul "Ripples Guy" Wesselmann

Quote Pond: http://TheRipplesProject.org

P.S. How can you not love this guy, he's from Wisconsin :)

Dr. Maura Cullen

Dr. Cullen is an incredible woman, with incredible experiences and knowledge.  I went to two of her sessions, one session was on diversity and the other was on lessons learned on the playground.  She does a fantastic job at getting her audience involved.  In fact during her lessons on the playground session she brought out the kid in a lot of us by inviting us to come up to the front and dance (don't worry I did).  She also invited us all to do something we didn't think we could do or questioned we could do... break a archery arrow by holding it between the wall and the soft spot on your neck!  I was incredibly nervous when she was showing us how to do it, but then I tried it and I realized there was nothing to be sweating over.  She has a way of making you believe in yourself and believe you can do anything you set your mind to.  

Sneak preview time...

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Cullen or purchase her book check out her website.

Patrick House

I don't know how many of you are Biggest Loser fans, but I know I am... I LOVE the show!  I know that the way they do things is not necessarily the healthiest way to do it, but you have to give them credit for doing it, for losing it, one way or the other.  Weeeellll, I had the chance to meet last season's Biggest Loser at NIRSA! 

He's so adorable! 

Patrick did not speak at this conference, he was actually there with Cybex.  He works for them now as a traveling person, but he was there for a Q & A session and hung out for a couple days at the fitness expo.  For any of you Boston Marathon watchers or runners, he and some of the other Biggest Losers from his season ran in the Boston!  Did any one see them?  Granted I did not get to spend a whole lot of time with him, my friend (in the picture above) and I were GEEKING out at the chance to meet him... we made sure to let him know :-p  I was bound and determined to become Facebook friends with him, but I still haven't gotten my friend request from him ;)

This is probably my favorite post about New Orleans, because I met and heard so many great people I wish I could listen to them everyday.  They all gave me such a fresh and positive view on life and my job.  If you have any questions about any of these people, feel free to let me know :)

Laissez le bon temps rouler!