Friends,
I can't believe a month has passed since I posted to this blog. First there were the holidays, then the post-holidays. The most time-consuming thing, however, was my group's second annual get together--MajorGiving: The Conference 2008, which we held in Baltimore on January 17th and 18th. A modest "boutique" gathering of about 75 professionals, the event featured a half-day plenary session by Robert F. Hartsook titled after his book Nobody Wants to Give Money Away. The essence of his presentation was that donors want to change lives and invest in causes that have enormous impact, rather than "give" money away to unrestricted funds. Whenever I or another presenter discuss the disconnect between large-gift philanthropy and restricted projects, I feel a palpable discomfort within the audience. And yet, this is a message that all consultants and presenters bring to conferences.
I was marveling with my group after the conference about how many "superstar" author/presenters we have connected with over the years--last year it was Jerold Panas, this year Bob Hartsook, and in the past we have intersected with Kay Sprinkel Grace, Judith Nichols, and Marianne Briscoe. All of them are wonderful presenters who share important messages.
However, they all essentially say the same thing.
So why do we present them at our conferences? I think we finally realized the answer: everyone has his or her own muse. You may hear the same message a thousand times, but one day a new voice might be the catalyst for you. For me it was in the late 80s and the presenter was David Dunlop at Cornell University--one of the inventors of Moves Management ® . I also benefited from mentoring from several key people, including Dunlop.
So we keep trying to make the same message new and fresh and relevant to audiences. I don't know who will be the headline presenter next year, but I'm optimistic that he or she will be the catalyst for one of our attendees.
In the meantime...go out there and find your muse.
Talk to you soon!
Bob
