MY FRAME
Paul Lane and Neil Armstrong in mock confrontation at a memorable AMF sales meeting. The subject was telescopes.
SARAH
WHO? Is bowling really so lucky to get Sarah Palin?
BY PAUL LANE
T
he announcement that the BPAA had secured Sarah Palin as the keynote speaker for Bowl Expo was met with a mixture of positive and negative reactions by the industry at large, which perhaps was not surprising. The agency managing Ms. Palin said bowling was lucky, and she would be able to appear. But I wonder. Apart from the obviously high (exorbitant) fees speakers like Sarah Palin command, having speakers from the world of politics is treading on eggshells, to say the least. The potential is always present to offend the segment of the audience who do not subscribe to the particular speaker’s political stance or party. The same could be said about last year’s choice of Fred 14
IBI
March 2010
Thompson–although probably most of the audience associated him more with his acting background such as his role on TV’s Law and Order than with his shortlived run for the presidency in 2008. His message about how he got into and out of politics was gripping–if you aspire to get into or out of politics. In recent years we have also seen such high-profile entertainers as Bill Cosby and Jay Leno on the agenda. Entertainers of this caliber command high, and even higher, fees than politicians currently in the limelight, not to mention off-the-record compensation that can equal their speaker fees. This is not to say that these celebrity speakers were not excellent, and of course entertaining, at our conventions. But were they worth the expense when the message they delivered lacked anything a proprietor could take away and implement in his or her business to improve the bottom line? Let’s put it another way. Attendees pay an all-inclusive registration fee for Bowl Expo–the opening festivities, the workshops and seminars, admission to the trade show, the closing banquet. Suppose instead that attendees were charged a fee for each item on the agenda. They buy a ticket to attend the opening, another ticket for each workshop or seminar, admission into the trade show, and so on. How many proprietors would pay extra or separately to see a politician or an entertainer? The number would at least be somewhat diminished, I’m sure. The argument is not limited to the national convention. Virtually every regional BPA does something similar at its convention. I have no problem with the idea of the BPAA or the regional BPAs hiring keynote or motivational speakers for their conventions. I’m all for it. What I am challenging is the value of these high-profile speakers given their cost to us and the message they deliver, compared to the benefit of ideas a bowling audience might take home and apply to their businesses. In my years in corporate life I have been as guilty as anyone else in hiring speakers, for sales meetings for example. I will never forget having NASA’s Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, deliver a message to AMF sales people on the history of the telescope. The telescope? Did his message motivate anyone in the room to rush out and close a single deal? I don’t think so. If a speaker does no more than entertain, then we’re talking about an expense where the dollars