I had the pleasure of seeing Guy Kawasaki speak in my hometown of Kelowna last week.
Photo courtesy of Manoj Jasra
The presentation was one I had seen him give in Vegas at PubCon last fall but the repetition did nothing to reduce the enjoyability of the presentation. Guy is one of the most engaging speakers I've ever had the privilege of seeing. I was hoping to be able to get to know him a little bit better but unfortunately, he had a pinched nerve from a hockey injury and was unable to sit at our table for dinner. He was obviously suffering but managed to pull it together and deliver a great presentation. We had actually bought tickets for a number of our team at Enquiro because we knew it would be inspirational for them. None were disappointed and both Manoj and Jody actually did blog posts the same night of the presentation when they got home. Considering the event didn't wrap up till 10:30, that shows dedication and passion!
If you're not aware, Guy is a huge hockey fan and he definitely played to the crowd with a number of hockey references. Guy said he doesn't often get the chance to use hockey stories but when in Canada, he takes full advantage. He mentioned that he was actually considering canceling the speaking gig, given the pain that he was in with his injury, but he asked himself, "What would Mark Messier do?" and then sucked it up and made the trip. I'm glad he did. If you ever get the chance to see Guy speak, I would highly recommend going. I would also recommend becoming a regular reader of his blog, one of the most popular blogs on the web.