Michael Hutchison at Power Within Montreal

Joe Taylor
December 18, 2008

(bettertrades) - Power Within Montreal

We can all use a kick in the inspirational pants once in awhile. Especially in today's market.

The day before Thanksgiving was a true highlight in my life. I was fortunate to be Salim Khoja's guest for his sold out Power Within Montreal event. Salim is the President and Founder of Canada's largest seminar company The Power Within.

As a co-author of a book on speaking and giving powerful presentations, an obvious pinnacle would be the ability to meet on the same stage two of the world's best communicators -President Bill Clinton and Martin Sheen in front of a crowd of nearly 5,000.

President Clinton is highly regarded as one of our greatest Presidents and Martin Sheen played one on TV in The West Wing. While two of the most prolific communicators of our time, their styles are very different and their ability to communicate clearly and with passion is unparalleled.

This was my third time meeting President Clinton and it was a blast to remind him that we both attended Georgetown University as undergrads- I was class of 1983 and he was class of 1968. He asked me; "Did you have fun at Georgetown? He went on: "Man I had a blast and I try to get back at least once or twice every year." I told him we missed him at our last Reunion and he shared he wanted to go but "he was caught up with Hillary's primaries." President Clinton is amazingly dynamic and when he engages in conversation with you, nobody else in the room matters.

Martin Sheen is truly one of the funniest people I have ever met. Fifteen years ago I spent a week with the Sheen family: Martin, Janet, Charlie and Ramon when I worked for bestselling author Tony Robbins. I reminded Martin of our trip and we laughed about the songs he taught us on the beach in Fiji.

Martin went on to tell me no tot worry about his not remembering our vacation. He shared that at a recent fundraiser, a woman approached him and said "Hello Martin, how are you?" He responded "I am fine, how are you." Disappointed, she asked: "You don't recognize me do you?" He said: I am sorry ma'am-I don't."

She said, Well gosh, it's me Paula, Paula Abdul."

Then Martin leaned in and confided with me: "Now, Michael it's one thing to not recognize this huge American Idol TV star but the fact that she was married to Emilio and therefore was my daughter in law for almost 2 year is inexcusable."

What a hoot!

The Power Within events are tagged as "one full day of inspiration, motivation and entertainment that will ignite your spirit." I was so excited to be with the following real-world experts who are the best-of-the-best, in an incredibly entertaining environment: From the commanding and confident Mike Lipkin to the hilarious Loretta LaRoche. From the pragmatic Richard Dolan and the first ever woman Surgeon General Dr. Coello Novello.

All of the speakers empowered me to take action immediately to take my skills and life to the next level.

I really enjoyed the day. The content was world class and I was thrilled to acquire some additional presentation and communication skills just by watching and modeling the other speakers.

It was, indeed, a very special and memorable day... It's been a couple of weeks and I am still fired up.