The Keynote Presenter

One of the benefits of speaking is that I often learn from the audience. In a presentation to The Templeton of Cary recently about Sears Roebuck I was asked who was J. C. Higgins. I knew it was the name of a line of sporting goods sold by Sears but I didn’t know who the individual was.

When I got home I googled the name and learned J.C. Higgins was not a real sportsman, but rather an imaginary identity created by Sears, Roebuck & Company. The name was based on John Higgins, a real Sears executive who lacked a middle name (the “C” was added for marketing flair). He started as a cash boy in 1897 and eventually rose to become the company’s vice president and secretary before retiring in 1930. The firearms and other equipment was actually manufactured by Marlin , High Standard and other companies. In 1962 that name was retired and was replaced with Ted Williams, a well-known baseball star.

In addition to this speaking engagement, I spoke about the Women’s Land Army at the Waltonwoods Retirement Community and about the History of Outhouses at the StoneRidge retirement center during the month of July.

No, I haven’t been in a baseball game recently but had a speaking doubleheader recently. This week I spoke at the Carolina Preserve about North Carolina Farmer’s use of POWs during World War II. I gave the exact same presentation last week to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at North Carolina State University. So, I consider that to be a speaking double header.

One of the things I enjoy about speaking is what I learn from the audience. One of the questions asked last week was if POWs were housed at the Grove Park Inn near Ashville, NC. The Grove Park Inn is a historical upscale hotel in the mountains of NC. One of the audience members had heard that POWs were housed there. I was not aware of any POWs being there and I have done a good bit of research about POWs in North Carolina.

So I investigated and learned that German, Italian, and Japanese diplomats who were in the U.S. when the War broke out were not allowed to go about their daily routines but were transported to Asheville and sequestered in the Grove Park Inn. They had access to all the amenities of the Inn, had great meals, and were treated royally. So they were not POWs in the traditional sense of the word. The image below is inside the Grove Park Inn.

Earlier this week I spoke about NC Farmers’ Use of POWs During WWII at The Cardinal which is a retirement community in Raleigh. Because of the farm labor shortage the U.S. government had a program where farmers and others could “lease” the prisoners of war to work on their farms. The pulpwood industry also leased a large number of POWs because there was a paper shortage and trees needed to be harvested.

Because of the paper shortage there were a variety of efforts to recycle paper. The Raleigh Junior of Commerce had a paper drive in 1944 and paper was collected at various locations. A local junk dealer had his trucks pick up the paper and then sold it himself and kept the money. He was sentenced to two years in prison for this.

After my presentation an older gentleman approached me to let me know the paper thief was his uncle and he had never known about this. What a small world!

I always enjoy speaking at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville in December. The Christmas decorations and ambiance are great. And there is even a Bass Pro Shop in the adjacent mall. I made two presentations there in early December.

The first was as the keynote speaker for the Association for Career and Technical Education Research. The presentation was “Over 100 Years of Making a Difference: Career and Technical Education.” I was the president of this organization back in 1982, so it was nice they still want me around.

The second presentation was titled “Leadership: Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs.” This was for a session during the Association for Career and Technical Education annual convention. I shared my experiences as president of four national educational organizations.

It was a pleasure speaking to an adult group at the First Baptist Church in Rocky Munt, NC this Monday. My topic was True Stories of the Circuit Rider Preacher. One person asked if I was a Methodist becausee I talked a lot about the Methodist Circuit Riders. The truth is the Methodist Circuit Riders kept journals, so we know a lot more about their experiences than circuit riders of other denominations. I think the audience was surprised to learn about circuit riding Jewish rabbis, Catholic priests and even a female circuit rider.

I have a number of “canned” presentations in my speaking portfolio. So when I am asked to speak on a topic that is not in that portfolio, I welcome the opportunity to research and learn more about that topic. That is what happened this week when I was asked to speak to the Counseling & Career Development Division of the North Carolina Association for Career and Technical Education. Their meeting in Raleigh coincided with the state fair.

So how is Career and Technical Education (CTE) like the state fair? After giving a brief history of the North Carolina State Fair I described how the two were similar. Some of the points I made included:

• They are both places of discovery
• Both expose people to new ideas and ideals
• They both include hands-on activities and learning
• They both focus on real-world experiences
• They both celebrate individual talents with blue ribbons and awards
• They connect people from all walks of life and develop community
• They can be springboards for growth and could lead to new careers
• Done properly, they both can be fun

The audience was surprised to learn there once were segregated state fairs in North Carolina and in other states. Thankfully, that is a thing of the past. 

During July I made two presentations on the same topic – Winning World War II on the Home Front. The first presentation was at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, the second was at the Fountain Park Chautauqua in Indiana. While Victory Gardens was the main focus of the presentation I also spoke about scrap metal and rubber drives during the war, collection of scrap paper by school age children known as Paper Troopers, and collecting tin cans by the Tin Canoneers school children. We also spent some time talking about rationing and how vocational agriculture students repaired farm equipment during the war because the farm equipment manufacturers were making equipment for the war effort. The audience were somewhat surprised to learn that we (primarily school age kids) collected milkweed pods for use in life preservers. Women were asked to give up their silk and nylon stockings for war use. Silk stocking were made into gun powder containers and the nylon was used in parachutes. This was an age of patriotism and Americans working together.

The NCTTFC Agricultural Leadership Development Program at North Carolina State University prepares younger agriculturalist to be our future leaders. This year the program revolves around the topic of Crucial Conversations. This can be a daunting topic. So I was invited to be the post-luncheon speaker last week to engaged in a crucial conversation about the history of outhouses. It was designed to be entertaining (and educational) with the moral being it is good to think about the past but we must be forward thinking and be looking to the future. The image below is the group I spoke to but we were inside, not out in a field.

I love traveling in Utah — but in the summer time. I was in Salt Lake City on February 9 to speak at the annual meeting of the National Association of Conservation Districts. There was snow on the ground and it was chilly outside. However, it was warm inside. Since I was a USDA Soil Conservation Service intern during my college days, I enjoyed speaking to my ” home folks”. I spoke about the history and evolution of the outhouse. I even encountered a student from a class I taught 20+ years ago.

During World War II Italian and German Prisoners of War were “leased” out to farmers, food processors and the lumber industry to work. Since many American men were fighting overseas, there was a labor shortage in America. The use of POWs was one approach to solving the labor shortage. This was the gist of my presentation to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Raleigh earlier this week. In North Carolina we had 18 POW camps and there was some conflict between farmers and the pulpwood industry about the use of the POWs. The demand for labor was greater than the supply. The audience was a little surprise to learn that 118 POWs were employed at Duke and the University of North Carolina as “mess attendants.”