Email this article to a friend

What message of yours will continue to echo long after you’ve gone? Do your efforts on and off the stage have a lasting effect on those around you? Is your message something you live and lead by example?

I wish you could have been there last night at the National Speakers Association Convention banquet! The highlight of the program was when they awarded the Cavett Award, which is named after the man who founded NSA in 1972. I was humbled by the video of Cavett Robert. Though he, too, won the World Championship of Public Speaking in 1942, I can’t even begin to compare my accomplishments with his.

Many people have a scarcity mentality and feel like there’s only so much business out there and that they’re competing to get a bigger piece of the “pie.” Cavett, on the other hand, brought together some of the legends of speaking and together they built a bigger pie.

Its been said that Cavett Robert always ended his speeches with Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, The Lamplighter. Before there was electricity, the Lamplighter would walk down the street and light the gas lights to brighten our world at night.

Cavett led by example of his belief that we should all “light the way for those who would follow.” It’s been said that you may not know where the Lamplighter is going, but you can always tell where he has been. Cavett’s beliefs and efforts are what NSA was founded upon.

As I looked around the banquet table, I saw Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE, Mark Brown, and Ed Tate – three people who continue to see in me more than I see inside myself. I got choked up, looking around the room and seeing others who encouraged me without expecting anything in return. Rick Segel, Scott Friedman, Mark Sanborn, and Willie Jolley were just a few of the mentors there that night who had helped to light the way for me.

I also thought of the people who were attending the conference that told me how I had helped light the way for them. It’s a wonderful feeling to inspire others. If you are serious about being a professional speaker, spend time with people who are where you want to be. In the US, check out NSA. In Canada, check out CAPS, outside the states checkout GSF. And, if you are serious about the skill of speaking, consider joining the World Champions’ EDGE.

In the video last night, Cavett also said that you don’t have to be rich to be successful. Our true success is written on the hearts of the people we have mentored. You do not have to be the founder of an organization to be a Lamplighter. We are all Lamplighters in some way and in some form to those around us. I write this to remind myself to not just give a presentation or write a speech for me, but instead to have a much deeper intent to light the way for others. This convention also reminded me that, although I invest thousands to learn marketing and improve myself each year, one of my best assets was the heart to help others that I got from my mom and dad.

Winning the World Championship was only a beginning. Thank You, Cavett Robert. His message will continue to echo for decades to come though the people he brought together. There are now 12 national associations and a Global Federation of Speakers born of one man’s Lamplighting and many who continue to carrying the torch of his spirit.

You don’t have to win the World Championship. You don’t have to start a national organization, but you could. Whether it is on or off the stage, light the way for others to follow. Who will be better off because you lit the way?

Stage time,

Darren LaCroix
2001 World Champion of Public Speaking