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Apparently I was still a little tuckered out after the long weekend at CYAID, because as I lay on my bed at the Super 8 Havre doing a bit of work and watching iRobot, I passed out and missed the sunset. So much for the romantic sunset on the prairies!

However, despite the missing sunset, it was still an absolutely gorgeous trip. The scenery was dominated by what seemed like never-ending rolling grassy hills. It’s tough to describe the isolation that you see out here, but maybe this sign will help you out…as I headed South from Medicine Hat towards the U.S., here’s what the sign said…

“There are no services or residences for the next 135 KM’s.”

Wow! That’s a lot of pressure to stay on the road and not get a flat tire!!

The border crossing was so much different than anything on the Ontario/New York & Michigan crossings. There was one guy and he didn’t even have a booth. The border is only actually open from 9 am – 5 pm, and I’m not sure what happens if you try to cross at other hours. There were two houses right next to the border and I can only guess that that is where the border patrolmen live. I’m surprised they didn’t tear apart my car just so they would have someone to talk to for 30 minutes. I bet they’ve got some VERY interesting stories from working at a small border crossing like the one at Wild Horse. It’s so unique.

As I crossed over the border, I was instantly met with about a half dozen antelopes relaxing on the side of the road. This is a picture of them running away from me.

Havre is a very interesting town. It just pops up after 100’s of km’s of literally nothing. The town is one casino after the next as gambling is apparently quite legal here in Montana. Havre reminds me of the type of town that has been seen in movies like Friday Night Lights and Varsity Blues…a small, isolated U.S. town with a passion for its amateur sports.

I get one more night in Montana and this time I definitely will not sleep through the sunset!

I would normally end my post by saying “Go Raps”, but with us averaging an injury per game, I’ll just wish that we get through a game without someone breaking an ankle. I’ll be home soon boys!

It was a great and EXHAUSTING 4 days at CYAID. I had the opportunity to see a lot of old faces. People who had seen me speak at past Conferences, people who had booked me at their schools and even fellow Speakers that I had the chance to talk with.

Even though I only did 2 speeches over the 4 days, I have to say that each day was more incredibly fatiguing than doing 3 speeches and a workshop at a school. The reason why I say this is because when I’m at a school, I’m already booked and the pressure is off. When I’m at a Conference, I need to be ON! Any time I was outside of my hotel room, the eyes were on me. Eyes of students, staff, Conference organizers, etc. And don’t get me wrong, you don’t become a Speaker if you don’t like the attention, but I really felt the pressure this weekend. As much fun as it was to be able to talk and work with the students and advisors, it was also immensely stressful to try to find the energy to keep the good vibes flowing from 8 am – 1 am for 3 days straight!

This was a National Conference with the opportunity for National exposure. So far I’ve spoken in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories within Canada, so that leaves 5 Provinces and 2 Territories that I still haven’t spoken in. I love travelling and I love getting to see different parts of the world that I otherwise would never have gotten to see.

Tomorrow I head to Montana for a couple days. The pictures I’ve seen of it look absolutely extraordinary. On Tuesday, I’m going to be in Cut Bank, Montana and the motto of that town is, “where the Plains meet the Mountains”. I saw a picture where that is literally the case and I can’t wait to see it for myself.

My goal for tomorrow is to get myself away from the computer, away from the tv and away from the bed and to drive out to the flattest part of Havre, Montana I can find, sit on the hood of my car (ssshhhh, don’t tell them) and watch the sunset.

I hope to have a picture for you tomorrow.

The Magic # is 6 – Go Raps!

I wanted to post at the completion of my Edmonton Catholic Schools Speaking Tour, but I haven’t stopped going since. Right now, I’m at the Canadian Youth Against Impaired Driving National Conference with a few minutes on my hand before dinner.

Before I talk about the Conference, I have a couple of things to say about the end of my Speaking Tour. This was my first tour I have done where I spoke for pretty much every school in the School Board. It was interesting to see the similarities between almost every school and every audience. For example, I found most audiences provided with excellent attentiveness with very few disruptions, however, their responsiveness during the speech was limited. It was a bizarre experience for me to look out into the audience and see the bright eyes and wide smiles, and to watch them watching and listening to me, but also being very quiet and shy about participating when the time came to it.

With that being said, the positive comments I have received since then through my E-Mail (and also of course, after the speech) let’s me know that it was all and all a very successful 6 days and 6 schools. It was a great experience and one that I look forward to repeating throughout North America.

Of course, being here at CYAID is very opposite to speaking at a school. As a fellow Motivational Speaker said to me today, “we could bark like a dog for an hour and we’d still get laughter and applause through the hour”. The students that are here are the students that already get IT. They understand the need to push and motivate themselves and we just provide an additional boost.

I’ve spoken at many SADD/TADD/OSAID/CYAID Conferences over the past 7 years and my observation has remained the same. The messages to not drink and drive and to make smart choices in life and on the road are messages that are being heard by students here that already comprehend these concepts. It’s the students in the schools that don’t come to these Conferences and the adults in the workplace who never heard these messages that need to hear and understand what is being said over these four days. Hopefully of course, the people that attend these Conferences can continue to pass the message along to those that aren’t here and the good vibes can spread.

I’m on for two workshops tomorrow and am excited to be working with a great group of high energetic students. A lot of students that are here have heard me speak before, but they heard me with the Baa Baa Black Sheep and with my yellow pants. We’ll see what they think of “Professional” David tomorrow.

Go Raps and have a great weekend!

Monday morning, I performed my 200th Speech of my career at Austin O’Brien High School in Edmonton, Alberta. As I was being introdued to my audience, I had the opportunity to think back to almost 7 years to the date when I performed my 1st Speech for OSSSA – Central Metro West’s Annual Leadership Conference. I remember when I first got started, it was something I was doing because I enjoyed giving speeches and working with students and I figured why not do a couple speeches. Truly, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would have done 100 speeches, let alone 200 speeches.

With 200 (now 205) speeches in the books, here are some of the highlights over the past 7 years:

–My first speech and first standing ovation. This was the speech that gave me the confidence to believe I could do this for real.

–My first flight to a speech in 2001 – Sault Ste. Marie for the Odyssey Conference (I was officially a businessman now)

–My first autograph – At Goderich District Collegiate Institute in 2001 – I had to ask my friend who traveled with me what I should do!

–My first American speech for HOBY New York West in 2002 – A student after my show asked me if I knew Mike from Canada…I wish I was lying about this.

–My once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak in Shanghai, China in 2003. I had the chance to work with 400+ International students and visit the gorgeous city of Shanghai. No experience can compare.

–My 100th speech in Corning, New York. A great Leadership Conference with a very appreciative and energetic crowd.

–2004, I did a speech for Middlefield Collegiate Institute’s Annual Gr. 8 Leadership Conference. This Conference was planned by a group of students who had heard me speak for them at the same Conference when they were in gr. 8. It has always been this type of event, which has occured several times over the past few years that, to me, is the best compliment I could ever receive.

–My first trip to the East Coast in 2005, where I spoke at the Newfoundland Provincial Student Leadership Conference. This was truly the turning point in my career as it was there that I had the opportunity to spend 4 days working very closely with all of the students in attendance AND I had the chance to sit down with other Speakers and Leadership Consultants and discuss what we could do to improve what we do. It was after this that dramatic changes started coming to my speeches

–In September 2006, I had the opportunity to speak in two small towns in the Northwest Territories. As a University student, one of my key foci was on Arctic Sovereignty and Security issues, so to have the opportunity to travel to within 150 Km’s of the Arctic Circle…WOW. What a truly extraordinary experience to be able to see the Northern Lights, the NWT Government buildings, a beautiful lifeless land stretching thousands of miles as far as the eye can see. It is a true undiscovered Frontier.

–Becoming a fulltime Motivational Speaker – After toiling for 6 years, sharing time with my Speaking between University and then another fulltime job working for a Member of Parliament, I finally officially became a fulltime Motivational Speaker at the end of September. A scary proposition, my decision was quickly rewarded with 37 fantastic speeches in the fall (2 more than I had done in all of 2005). It was one of the riskiest decisions of my life, but with high risk comes high reward.

That is just a real brief overview of some of the highlights of my albeit brief career. It’s tough to encapsulate 7 years into a brief blog entry, but these are just of the things that stand out.

The truth is that Motivational Speaking has been as good for my audiences as it has been for me. I consistently receive E-Mails from students that tell me how I’ve changed their outlook on their lives, or how they’ve come to realize why it’s so important to “Motivate Themselves”. And it never gets old to get those kinds of E-Mails…especially a year or two after the speech, because it shows a lasting impact, which is really the end goal.

But, as I said Motivational Speaking has been good for me as well. When I started out in my first speech, I was a young, wide-eyed, 19 year old who had some confidence, but didn’t know where he’d be in a year’s time or when his next speech would be, or what any of the future would hold. Now at 25, I still don’t know exactly what the future will hold, but who does? I can tell you though, that I know when my next speech will be…in 8 hours!

Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes and congratulations on the 200th speech. Go Raps!

So as of today, I have been in the Province of Alberta for one full week. I have had he opportunity to do 13 speeches in 7 different schools. It has been impressive to see the level of maturity and behaviour of the students in my speeches. They have almost been TOO quiet, but of course, attentive and focused is never a bad thing for a speaker to have in an audience.

Some random observations about my first week:
–Westjet is a far better airline in terms of their service, demeanour and what they offer on the plane.

–Edmontonians are DIE HARDS when it comes to their Oilers

–Alberta roads are SCARY! There are so few road signs, speed limit postings and the lanes just all seem to merge into one. Edmonton could use a little bit more money into re-painting lanes on the road. Everytime I drive I feel like I’m in 6 lanes.

–Alberta drivers seem to like to SIDLE. What I mean by that is that they’ll turn into lanes next to you while you’re driving right there…as opposed to waiting until I’ve cleared the lane. Once again, everytime I go past an intersection, I feel like someone is going to T-Bone me.

–Boston Pizza offers enough different options that you can eat there 3 days in a row and not get bored

–Subs may be the only real fast food that offer you all 4 food groups

–Some Super 8’s are actually quite nice. Others are not

–Wireless internet and a laptop is the saviour to the the travelling businessman. I can’t imagine being away from my loved ones without it

–Edmonton Catholic High Schools easily have the most gorgeous Canadian schools I’ve ever had the opportunity to speak in

–Staying quiet and witing for silence is far more effective than talking over a noisy crowd

–Some students that you wouldn’t think would focus on your speech and get much out of it, end up having the most passionate responses to it

–Signing autographs still makes me feel like a rockstar!

Monday morning I will be performing my 200th Motivational Speech at Austin O’Brien Catholic High School. My next blog entry will detail some of the high’s and lows over the first 199 speeches.

Today I had the opportunity to give 3 speeches at Saint Joseph Composite High School. To describe it doesn’t do it justice. Easily the most gorgeous Canadian High School I’ve had the opportunity to speak in and also the most unique. They have different academic programs with the most fascinating being one of independent learning. Very similar to College style, students do work at their own pace and only attend seminars twice a week. Quite a unique way to educate, but it certanly seems very effective. I’ll be curious to see if this style expands in other schools down the road.

So I’ve done 10 speeches now in 4 days and amazingly, I’m still not finding myself too exhausted. I felt just as good in the 3rd speech today as I did in the 1st. A big part of it I think is that I’ve had 10 great audiences to work with. The speech stays the same, so it’s just a matter of how willing the audience is.

3 more speeches before I get my only 2 days off for the rest of the month. Looking forward to the speeches tomorrow and to a weekend of basketball. With Duke out, I’m left to say…Go Raps!

The NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament is easily the greatest sporting event on the planet. In no other sporting event does the underdog consistenty upset the favourite. I love following the brackets and seeing how my (basically random) picks match up against friends and other people in Yahoo! and Facebook pools. In 2005 I had my best finish ever, finishing 74th out of over 300,000 in CNNSi’s Public Pool. It will certainly be tough to match such a performance, but I can’t wait to be able to get back to the hotel, order some pizza and bunker down and watch the games tomorrow. It’s the greatest sporting time of the year!

Some things I’m watching for:

My cherished Duke Blue Devils on a down year to make it valiantly into the Sweet 16 but bow out (probably not so gracefully).

Florida’s experience will be the difference maker in returning them to the Championship. It’s rare for teams to repeat, but it’s also rare for teams to return 5 starters!

Watch for big upsets by Wright State, Oral Roberts and George Washington.

Oral Roberts I’m picking to have the best run of the Cinderella teams, eventually losing to Georgetown in the Sweet 16.

More than likely, everything I have said above will be proven to be 100% wrong over the next couple days…and that’s what I love about the Tournament. Your guess is as good as mine!

Although I planned to post daily, wireless problems at my hotel in Edmonton caused some delays. In honour of the tragic suicide this week of Comedian Richard Jeni, I won’t tell you what hotel it is, but let’s just say it rhymes with “Pooper Hate”. To keep my costs as low as I can for the schools I speak for, I always sacrifice by staying at the lowest possible hotels, but I think this is a practice I’m going to put a halt to after this trip. I hate the idea that I’m getting TOO fancy for a Howard Johnson, but at the same time, I do find that staying in places like that always lead to more problems like wireless being down; shower not working; terrible beds/pillows=bad sleep; etc, etc. And when I’m doing 3 speeches a day, a peaceful night’s sleep is good for me AND for the students!

Today I did my 1st of 6 Edmonton Catholic Schools that I’ll be speaking at over the next week…a gorgeous school, St. Francis Xavier. Three very interesting crowds…quiet, well behaved and attentive. I’ve come to expect more rowdiness from students during assemblies so this was a pleasant change.

From what I can recall, this was my first time doing 3 speeches back to back to back. My voice and energy held up just fine…I actually found that I was more pumped up during my 3rd assembly than my 1st. What actually gave way today, was my head! Sometimes when I talk too much, I give myself a headache!!

Also giving way tragically during my 2nd assembly was the battery on my quite famous grade 6 Timex watch! In the middle of timing a student during a segment of the speech, the clock just stopped working. That battery held up over 7 years…it will be missed.

Tomorrow I’m off to St. Joseph’s for another 3 speeches. Now don’t get me wrong…I can’t wait to go and perform the speeches and work with the students, but it would have been nice to catch the opening games of the NCAA Tournament. This will be my first time in the 10 years I’ve watched that I’ll be missing the opening games.

Some random thoughts and musings about the NCAA Tournament to follow…

My 19-day/28-speech Speaking Tour kicked off with speeches in Devon and Calmar, Alberta, a couple of small towns located just outside of Alberta. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to stick around and check out the towns due to a busy schedule…this is a problem that I think is going to occur frequently along this trip. It’s the Ying and the Yang of being a busy Speaker: Yes, I get to speak to more students, but I unfortunately don’t get to spend as much time with them individually once I get off stage. I haven’t yet figured out how to get the best of both worlds, but that’s why there are Super 8 Motels to think in!

I think my biggest challenge on this trip is going to be to try to avoid excessive fast food and to try to stay in shape. Now to be fair, when I say “shape”, I’m refering to MY shape…not IN shape. With so many speeches in such a short period of time, keeping my energy levels up and my voice in tact is certainly going to be fun.

Today’s speeches definitely got my energy levels up on a slow Monday morning. After a late arrival to Edmonton on Sunday night, a smoke-filled “non-smoking” room that kept me awake most of the night due to its nauseating smell and a 6:15 am wake up call, I was the one in need of pumping up! The kids at John Maland High School definitely helped to provide it.

Day 1 down….18 more fun-filled days to come!

I know it has been a while since I’ve written in my blog, but all of that will change starting now.

In a few hours I head to the airport to begin my largest speaking tour ever. 19 days and 28 speeches later, I am confident I will be coming home quite exhausted and with a big smile on my face for a job well done.

I will be spending the bulk of my time in Edmonton, but I will also have a chance to go to Calgary, Devon, St. Paul as well as travel through Montana and Saskatchewan (something I’m REALLY thrilled about). I love to travel and I love the open road, but I’ve never had the opportunity to drive along the frontier. There is something so romantic and historicabout that journey and I can’t wait to see how it lives up to expectations.

I plan to post on every day of my trip (especially since I’m speaking on all but 3 days) and update you all from speech to speech, so stay tuned. I also hope to be able to upload pictures so that this blog isn’t all just write, write, write!

Write some comments and send me some E-Mail, because I’m all by myself on the frontier.

Go Raptors but even more importantly today….Good luck to my DUKIES on getting a good bracket!

See you in the Central Time Zone!