My National Speakers Association convention ended Thursday night with our big awards banquet. The Speaker Hall of Fame Awards were given out to five new recipients. I was one of sixty people nominated and while I didn’t get it this year, I was very humbled to be nominated for an award that is held by motivational speakers like Les Brown and Zig Ziglar and statesman Colin Powell and former president Ronald Reagan (of course there are a dozens of other professional speakers who have the CPAE that aren’t as known). The 2007 inductees included Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Bob Danzig, former CEO of Hearst Publishing, David McNaulty, Roxanne Emmerich, and Susie Vanderlip. It would have been fantastic to have be a part of the 2007 class. But perhaps 2008 will be the year in New York City.

One of the best things that happened though, occurred after the convention. As I was boarding the plane in San Diego, I bumped into my speaking colleague (and now great friend) Jana Stanfield. The gate agent thought we were together together and commented that we weren’t sitting together. She moved our seats so we were together and we had the most amazing conversation on the way home… both about a new potential speaking focus for her and my plan to host the Worlds Biggest Blog Party - Connecting the Globe for Good. Stay tuned…

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies. He is founder of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com