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Motivational Inspirational Speaker Wins Local Award

In July 2001, Aussie motivational inspirational speaker, Lisa McInnes-Smith was recognised worldwide when she was inducted into the “Speakers’ Hall of Fame” in the USA.  Now her motivational speaking talent has been recognised locally.

The industry of professional speaking is relatively new in Australia. It came to the surface in a very unofficial form in the 1950’s, however a professional association wasn’t formed until around twenty five years ago.  The National Speakers’ Association of Australia is now a vibrant professional speaking community influencing thousands of businesses Australia wide and overseas.

Lisa McInnes –Smith has been travelling back and forth to the USA for years. Lisa was at the height of her motivational speaking career when one of her clients had Americans in the audience. They fell in love with her fun filled transparent style and immediately booked her for two engagements in the USA. Her boomerang throwing antics endeared her to her American audience and before long she was doing the transpacific flights on a regular basis. She travelled with an entourage of 6 comprising her 2 small children under 3, her parents-in-law and her husband. There were 21 pieces of luggage to help the babies transition from hotel to hotel. They were a travelling circus but a very successful motivational team. The average audience size was 4500 people with some events growing to twenty and even thirty thousand.

On many occasions she shared the stage with past American presidents and well known entertainment acts. Her favorite was the late, great Ray Charles.  At one time one of Lisa’s live recordings was distributed across the American market which opened far more doors than she could fill.

Lisa has always been one for work/life balance. She believes she is in this industry for the long haul and so knows the importance of taking good care of herself and her family.

So far she has been involved with professional motivational speakers for 27 years, but as a professional speaker herself for 25 years. She started off promoting world class American speakers into the Australian business arena for an Australian seminar company.

It was during this season that she wrote her first bestselling book on goal setting for teenagers and young adults. She toured the country travelling from high school to high school as well as doing public seminars in country areas.

Her motivational skills were highly developed whilst speaking to teenagers. She needed to grab their attention quickly and keep it for an hour long school assembly full of hot, sweaty restless kids. It was the foundation that gave her and unusual ability to create startling openings and creative methods to lock the message in. Student involvement was essential. It enabled her to connect with even the most challenging teenagers. These young people found her inspiring, enlightening and empowering. They took her ideas to heart and quickly found that the truth produces fruit.

She meets hundreds of adults today who were raised on her personal development programs.

In 2006 Lisa was one of the first group of Australians inducted into the newly formed Australian Speakers’ Hall of Fame as designated by the National Speakers’ Association of Australia.

It was nice see her recognized in her own country after being first recognized overseas. However her many international clients have recognized her value by continually employing her motivational speaking skills within their businesses and their international conferences. We can truly say Lisa is one of Australia’s most loved motivational inspirational speakers worldwide.

Motivational presentations buzz for keynote

Motivational keynote speaker, Lisa McInnes-Smith wowed the audience with her recent keynote at the DSAA Conference in only 18 minutes, according to roaming correspondents K Peterson and C Smith.

“Lisa McInnes-Smith totally grabbed my attention” said the first delegate that we interviewed. “She charged the atmosphere with positive expectation”

“Absolutely brilliant” said another “She engaged the whole audience in the learning process”

Lisa McInnes-Smith was given just 18 minutes to showcase her highly coveted talents to a room full of seasoned delegates from the Direct Selling Industry. These highly successful corporate leaders represented many well known brands in Australia and worldwide such as Tupperware, Avon, Amway and Mary Kay. They hear many motivational keynote speakers and  high calibre of their company training and conferences is well known.  So the buzz was big when they poured accolades on Lisa McInnes-Smith for her 18 minutes of fun and learning.

Here’s what a dozen of the delegates had to say about Lisa’s motivational presentations straight after the keynote presentation… ….

“She makes the message memorable even though we’ve just listened to 8 other presenters. She’s fun and I want her to speak at our conference.”

“We only got a small taste of her unique teaching style but I’ve already changed my posture.”

“I loved the pain vs agony example. It’s a strong message for embracing self discipline and a reason for going beyond discomfort to get results.”

“Her ideas are so practical and applicable. You don’t realize how much you’re learning because you’re laughing”

“I loved the way she recognized and rewarded participants. The audience wanted to get involved.”

“Her language and examples were so clear and yet so vibrant. She was a great ambassador for Ovations speakers’ bureau. We would put her on our conference program anywhere in the world.”

“She’s a breath of fresh air.”

We couldn’t illicit a negative comment from one delegate. We’ve concluded that this motivational keynote speaker was a huge hit!

(Thanks to roaming correspondents K Peterson and C Smith for allowing us to reprint their report.)

Motivational Keynote Speaker Wins Award

The “Speakers’ Hall of Fame” wasn’t a familiar achievement in this country until one of our own Aussies was inducted into it in the USA, July 2001. How does an Australian mum end up in the professional Speakers’ Hall of Fame for her motivational keynote presentations? The award surprised Lisa McInnes-Smith as much as anybody. Who would have dreamt that an Australian motivational keynote speaker would be selected for a Hall of Fame half way around the world?

It seems that thousands of speakers have been nominated for this award over the past eighty years but only a couple of hundred have received it.

Every one of the awardees until 2001 had been a citizen of the United States or its neighbor Canada. Although there are hundreds of world class professional speakers all around the world, up to this point only those from the North American Continent had ever been inducted.

It was a landmark day when our girl from suburban Melbourne took her place in the American Speakers’ Hall of Fame. Suddenly it became the International Speakers’ Hall of Fame and it opened up the door for speakers all around the world to aspire to this auspicious accolade.

Lisa McInnes-Smith was one of the first to ever receive the award on a first nomination.

Many are nominated multiple times over a decade before they receive it however Lisa received a unanimous vote of confidence the first time around from the panel of professional speakers who judged this highly desired award recognising her as one of the most outstanding motivational inspirational speakers.

Just recently (2009) our second Aussie winner was added to the list, another motivational keynote speaker. We now have two female professional keynote speakers in Lisa McInnes-Smith and Amanda Gore in the Speakers’ Hall of Fame. It looks like the girls have the gift of the gab and now we’re waiting for our first male nominee.