Leadership Forum Day One...

It was a great day, today!  The speakers were all fantastic and motivating.  Joe and I both enjoyed it, and are looking forward to tomorrow!  The best part may be that they had golf carts to take us from the parking lot to the Chapel.  It was a long walk, and the cart sure saved my knees!!  We caught a ride back, at the end of the day, too.  Whew!

Our day started with breakfast, by Chick-fil-A, along with juice and coffee.  We needed the coffee, since breakfast was served outside - it was COLD this morning.  The Forum was/is held in the campus Bush Chapel.  Southeastern University's campus is just breath-takingly beautiful.  The day was gorgeous, with a clear blue sky and warm sunshine later in the day.

We were given ample break times, and they had snacks and beverages for us during breaks.  Lunch was in the school's cafeteria, called the Tuscana Ristorante, and was delicious.  There were many choices, from fried chicken, potatoes and veggies, to a huge salad bar, a pizza bar and a grill with burgers and fries.  Desserts were decadent.  We were treated quite well.

The first speaker was Mark Sanborn (http://www.marksanborn.com/#&panel1-1) and in my opinion, he was the best of the five we had today, but not by much.  They were all great.  His topic today was "Nobody can prevent you from choosing to be extraordinary."  I took two pages of notes while he talked, then order two of his books. 

All the speakers' books were available at the Forum today, but I ordered them from Amazon for about half price.  Of course, I won't get their autograph, but that's okay.

The second speaker was Nancy Ortberg.  (http://www.giftedforleadership.com/2007/01/nancy_ortberg.html) and was motivating.  Her topic was Non-Linear Leadership and she talked about over-coming fear.  She mentioned that in the Bible, we are told from Genesis to Revelations that we are to fear not.

The third speaker was Pat Williams.  He is the part owner and co-founder of the Orlando Magic basketball team (among other things).  He and his wife have 19 children - four natural children and 15 adopted from four different countries.  I really enjoyed hearing him talk about the 12 qualities of winners.  http://patwilliams.com/

The fourth speaker was John Ortberg (husband of Nancy, above).  He is a Presbyterian Minister and motivational speaker.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ortberg  His talk was more of a sermon, about Jesus as the greatest leader.  I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him talk about Jesus and history.  A friend of mine sat in the row in front of us, who is also Catholic.  She and I agreed we need Priests who can preach like this man!

The final speaker of the day was, in my opinion, the second best speaker.  John Maxwell (http://www.johnmaxwell.com/) is a super motivational speaker and has written quite a few books.  His talk today was about the Five Levels of Leadership.  I also ordered his book of the same title.  I took two pages of notes while he talked, too.

Below are some photos I took on the campus, so you can see how beautiful it is and the pretty day we had.  I've driven by the University many times, but today is the first time I've been on campus.  They have just under 3,000 students now.  http://www.seu.edu/

We weren't allowed to take photos inside while the speakers were talking.  As mentioned above, we are looking forward to tomorrow!  Peace, love & hugs!!

 This is inside the restaurant/cafeteria.  Just beautiful.