West PA Chefs

Four Members of the Western PA Chapter of the USPCA spent the day with about 17,000 people on August 11, 2009 at the Get Motivated Business Seminar held at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, PA.

Chapter Treasurer Carole Ortenzo CPC alerted the members of the event after hearing about it on the radio last week. Although it was short notice, chapter member Jo Ann Bohonik joined Carole, Chapter Secretary Marcia Schuller, Chapter President Tim Hering  and Jordan Henderson, Owner of Soap Alchemy LLC for the event.

The cost of admission was just $4.95 per person or $19 total for groups of 4 or more. Price was only good for tickets purchased prior to the event and were nearly $300 at the gate.

In spite of gridlocked traffic which caused several of the members as well as hundreds of attendees from several surrounding states to arrive late, the seminar proved to be packed full of interesting speakers covering topics such as Investing, Motivating employees as well as yourself, Leadership and other topics as well as offering give-a-ways such as a Disney Vacation and $10,000. Between speakers, the attendees were entertained with music and dancing.

Featured speakers included Tamara Lowe, who offered insight into why some people are motivated by one thing and others are motivated by something completely different.  She called this “Motivational DNA.

100% of the proceeds from her new book, entitled Get Motivated, are donated to several charitable children’s organizations.

Ms. Lowe’s husband interviewed Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Palamalu, who seemed very humbled to be included in the program. Other speakers included Terry Bradshaw and Zig Ziglar, who was joined onstage by his son, Tom Ziglar. The Ziglar’s portion of the program also included vintage clips from some of the many presentations given by the motivational guru as well as questions asked to the elder Ziglar from his daughter.

Former New Yourk City Mayor Rudy Giulani spoke to the audience about the importance of doing what you do well and finding people who do the things you do not do well in order to effectively lead. He also spoke of the importance of being prepared for any eventuallity so when something happens you can react accordingly even if something happens that you did not plan for. In that instance, taking parts of the various plans that have been constructed for other events, you will be more likely to quickly respond to the unexpected. He referenced the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01 as such an event.

General Colin Powel was another featured speaker.  His many years of public service were the seeds to his presentation as he spoke of his service under President Ronald Reagan and the fall of communism in the former Soviet Union. He also spoke of his years prior to becoming a 4 star general and the impact those years had on his abilities to lead during his time as Head of the Joint Cheifs of Staff as well as when he was Secretary of State under George W. Bush.

He talked about gaining trust in the people who follow you, and the true measure of that is when those people question the outcome, but still follow in spite of their questions.

The day was rounded off with a final speaker who talked about using the internet as a way to create a home based business.

Western PA USPCA Chapter members as well as Mr. Henderson went home tired, but full of ideas on taking each of their businesses to the next level.