"It is not for headlines that a man explores the lonely ends of the earth, but for the knowledge that he will bring back of places than no man has ever seen before." - Bernt Balchen

Being an adventurer it's only natural that I'd want to try, at least once, going to the famed black and white tie Explorer's club annual dinner (aka ECAD). These high profile, exotic dinners, which date back to 1904, are for the purpose of reviewing the year in exploration, to honor the world's top explorers, and a fancy way for this unique group of daring individuals to break bread together.

I had always heard about the Explorers Club, but it wasn't until I was on my world record voyage to the Titanic that I actually met several explorer club members. Two members, Ralph White (who was with Ballard when he found the Titanic) and Don Walsh (one of the two men in the world to go down to the Marianas Trench – the deepest spot in the ocean) agreed to sponsor me so I too could become a member. I was thrilled and it was at that moment that I decided I would attend the ECAD dinner.

Since I wasn't sure when the dinner took place, I looked on their website, www.explorers.org, to get some information. I was fascinated by the accomplishments of the club. It read, "The Explorers Club promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences. The club's members have been responsible for an illustrious series of famous firsts: First to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the moon—all accomplished by our members. The seven founding members included two polar explorers, the curator of birds and mammals at The American Museum of Natural History, an archaeologist, a war correspondent and author, a professor of physics and an ethnologist.
Today the club has over 3000 members representing every continent and over 60 countries.

The club is renowned for its grand Explorers Club Annual Dinner, which will be March 17, 2007. This year marks the 103rd ECAD dinner and will celebrate a polar theme. This year's master of ceremonies is Emmy and Peabody award winner, Dan Rather.
It will be held in the grand ballroom of the famed Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan.

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This past week I did another "Nothing is Impossible" school talk for a bunch of teens in New Jersey. I was told by a fellow world record holder, Manny Yarbourgh, that I am the same in person, as I am on stage, I answered, "That's because I love what I do and I speak from my heart."

With that, I thought for any of you who are interested in public speaking that I would let you know why this is so important.

As speakers we are told to be passionate about our topic. While that's great advice, it's simply not enough. Do you remember the famous restaurant scene in When Harry met Sally, where Meg Ryan feigns a passionate moment? Well, a good speaker can feign passion too but ... they can't feign honesty. There are always tell-tale signs that the audience will pick up on if you are not speaking from your heart.

Now I'm not talking about spilling your guts out to them, as if they were your therapist. What I am saying is, if something has just happened in your life, good or bad – use it. The purpose is to connect with the audience and let them see your human side, as opposed to your Stepford wife speech.

Case in point: my main keynote speech is called, Dare to do it! Before I give any speech, I take personal inventory. I ask myself if I am living the principles I am about to tell others to live. If not, I make sure I get myself in check before I give that speech. The last thing I want is some undercover agent tailing me finding out I'm a couch potato while touting the benefits of adventure.

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Recently I was upset about something...yes, even this fast talking motivational speaker has her days when she cries...the main thing is I only allow myself to cry for an hour...then I get off the pity pot and spend the next few hours or days whatever it takes, working on the solution. But in that hour that I did cry, my son, Spencer did something very special...he made a video for me and IM'd the link to me so that it popped up on my computer desktop.

I clicked it on and from the moment I heard my favorite song playing and saw that it was dedicated to me I started to cry...but this time it was tears of joy. I hugged Spencer at the end, which of course made me cry some more. (Maybe there were onions lying around who knows.)

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It all started with an impromptu phone call. A phone call in response to another phone call, and then another one for information.

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