To all of my wine playing friends…SALUTE!!  Enjoy the 4th and may I recommend a nice dry Rose’ for that picnic or BBQ!

#10.  Grapes are finicky, like kids.

#9.  Grape vines like water near them, not so much on them.

#8.  Good wine does not just happen.

#7.  Climate plays more in having a vintage year than anything.

#6.  Drink what you like the way you like it.

#5.  The more you know about wine, the more you know you don’t know.

#4.  Red wine aged in French oak barrels spoils you.

#3.  Food and wine are a natural pairing.

#2.  A bottle of wine has no guarantee.

#1.  Wine is fun.

I was recently conducting a chocolate and wine tasting event for a group of conference attendees in Asheville, N.C.  and  I was once again reminded how much fun it can be for folks to learn and play with wine.  More than once I have heard “Oh, I only like white wines” and before long I have once again witnessed that transformation into the world of reds!  Finding the wines we like, enjoying them with the foods we like and topping it all off with people we like…a nice experience all the way around.

Recently conducting a wine seminar/tasting for a group of folks from Charlotte N.C., we began to speak about wine shops and wine bars and wine gathering places.  Even in this challenging economy we are amazed that there are new wine related destinations appearing quite regularly.  Growth continues in the wine business, albeit the value priced wines appear to be doing better than the higher priced varietals at this time.  Folks love to play, learn, swirl, sniff and finally sip their grape of choice.  As I continue to demystify wine for people I so enjoy seeing them getting excited about wine!  Wine was created to play with and enjoy and I will continue doing my part in making sure more and more people learn how to play! For more information about playing with wine visit me at www.jackiepelletier.com.

Cheers!

I spend a great deal of time speaking with folks about just how long a bottle of wine will last after it is open.  Those of you who know me know that I always use the words “about” or “approximately” when I speak about wine.  I seldom think about having left over wine.  It pretty much is a general rule in my life that once open, no one leaves until it is gone.  I don’t purchase things that suck air out or pump things into an open bottle of wine.  Simply put, I would rather put my money into the product and not the tools to play with the product!  Sooner or later we all find out that yes, the wine does have a shelf life.  Just like us!  Those who have attended my wine trainings and wine seminars know that wine really does not go bad so to speak but rather it falls apart.  Just like us!  Wine is built and created using hundreds of chemical compounds that bind together, that is the science of enology and good wine does not just happen all by itself.  The skill of the winemakers along with the quality of fruit goes a very long way in this part science and part art creation.  We would like to think that all wine would age well, just like we would like to believe that we will all age well.   But reality reminds us that is not always the case.  Shelf life is real.   Some will have a longer and smoother and softer one than others.  One thing I know for sure is that we all have one…just like that 2002 bottle of Claret. Cheers!

The holiday season is here and will be but a fading memory before too long.  We will have feasted, played, and partied with friends and family enough to last us for another year!  Old and new memories will have been treasured and created.  Thoughts of grandma’s sausage stuffing, mom’s chocolate fudge, dad’s standing rib and Aunt Betty’s pumpkin roll will continue to be yearly must haves.  We will promise to diet starting the first of the year, try to like tofu, cook only healthy things, and work to fit into those size 10 jeans. Our commitment to keep in touch with those we love on a regular basis will begin to fall by the way side by the time March madness arrives.  Our strategy developed to strive for better balance between work and home life will once again take a back seat by the time the summer solstice hits the horizon. And despite all our daily minutiae and best intentions we as members of humankind will fall short once again.  The upside is that if life is kind to us, we will have yet another chance in 2010 to do it all once again.  Cheers to the challenges of 2010!

I was speaking with a group of retail management folks in Asheville, N.C. recently and the topic of physical and mental fatigue was foremost on their minds.  They were sharing with me that they felt like their ability to bounce back from one crisis event to another was decreasing and that they were having a more difficult time rallying the troops to rise to the occasion.  I proceeded to tell them about the experiment we did in my college kinesiology lab many many years ago.  We were learning about the co-efficient of resilience and how it applied to physical training and work.  We would take a rubber ball, about the size of a red playground ball and drop it from a 10 foot ladder.  The first time it hit the floor it bounced way back up, had a good amount of resilience we would say.  The next bounce it took was not as high and each bounce thereafter was less in height.  We could easily see that with each physical hit the resiliency of the ball decreased greatly.  I shared with them that the lessons learned from this experiment clearly apply to our lives.  It seems like we take “bounces” or hits  in all shapes and sizes every day and for the most part, we come back from those hits quite well. But, there are indeed times when too many hits are coming in a row that we lose our ability to bounce up as quickly or as high as we once did.  They were happy to hear that there was a logical reason for what they were noticing.  So how do we keep our resiliency?  We need to realize that not all things create a crisis.  We need to define what is regular for our day to day work world and we need not give in to the frantic vibes that others may be throwing our way.  We are way more resilient than we think.  Remember the bouncing ball!

I was recently speaking to a group of business folks visiting Asheville.  The topic of “loving your job” was brought up.  They commented that they wanted my job as a wine trainer  and even better, a wine trainer at the most visited winery in the country.  I quickly reminded them that “jobs” really are what we make them.  What we bring and what we take to them. Liking what we do is important otherwise there are just long unhappy days.  We need to work at caring about what we do and how we do it. Do it with personal pride and  always be willing to learn more everyday.  Having a job really is all it is cracked up to be.. I would not like to try life without one.

As a wine tasting coach I will entertain and educate you and those at your gathering.  How serious or educational is up to you.

Holiday gatherings, celebrations, office events, reunions or just a fun night.  Remember that wine was created to play with and enjoy.  Find out what a wine label really means, what the wine merchants might not tell you, and learn that pairing food and wine is not rocket science, find out just what a wonderful sparkling really is plus and lots more.

As a public speaker, I have had the opportunity to demystify wines for people for years.  It’s all about fun.  For fees and availability go to info@jackiepelletier.com.

Cheers!

Motivational speakers are sometimes viewed skeptically. It appears to audiences that these individuals need only stand before their groups and tell stories or delineate “How To’s” and then enjoy the applause. A behind the scenes view of the life of an expert speaker offers a different perspective.

CONTACT IS MADE
Someone from some group or organization contacts (usually e-mail or phone) the speaker. Discussion occurs on topics ranging from “purpose of the gathering”, “expected outcomes” all the way to how the room will be set up. Negotiation occurs and date and time is set. This oftentimes takes place over a series of days. Keep in mind that motivational speakers sometimes trade financial payment (due to business budgets) for things like spa packages, rounds of golf, lodging at a particular resort, meals at fine establishments. Leaving the event with a pocket full of money does not happen for most expert speakers.

WORK BEGINS
Once a contract has been formalized the expert speaker begins the process of learning about the group or organization that has hired them. They dig into who their audience will be. Nothing is worse then sitting in an audience made up of educators and have the speaker talk about the perils of day trading! Research and homework are mandatory and time consuming.

THE OCCUPIED MIND
As the motivational speaker begins to build the information needed to address a particular group his/her mind becomes overwhelmed with ideas about the presentation. Waking up at 2:10 A.M. morning after morning is only the beginning. Soon the expert speaker must actually rise out of bed at that time and place the information on paper. One, so they might be able to go back to sleep and two, so that they will remember what their creative juices emitted for future development. Motivational speakers think about their upcoming event while driving to work (their real jobs), mowing their yards, coaching their kids soccer games, doing laundry, buying groceries and cuddling with their significant other, who, by the way, will be playing second fiddle to the event until it is over! This practice goes oftentimes weeks prior to a presentation.

SEAT TIME
The time comes when the expert speaker must sit and build the presentation. Writing draft after draft after draft. Some use computers and keyboards while others use pen and paper. No matter what tools the speaker chooses, the work is time consuming and lengthy. Effective powerful presentations do not just happen. They are created with endless cups of coffee and many long hours of prep time.

DRY RUNS
As the expert speaker’s product begins to come together, dry runs are started. Some stand before mirrors, others in quiet rooms with bright lights, some practice with friends and family or some just choose to read their writings over and over again. It is at this time when motivational speakers must be extremely critical of not only the material they have created but also their style of presentation. This is not the time for sensitive feelings. Honest self-evaluation is needed.

READY FOR DELIVERY
The motivational speaker has done the work, put in the hours, lost the sleep and is now ready for the contracted event. The speaker is ready. The green light is on the horizon and the focus is set. It is at this point that all other people and things are neglected….everything is filled up and ready to pour out for the speaker’s intended audience.

SHOWTIME
Finally the end is in sight! The expert speaker arrives at the event destination expecting that all is ready. He/she arrives early to check out that the agreed upon room arrangements and equipment are set. Sometimes, it happens that the room has been switched at the last minute or that an unexpected wind storm has caused power to be interrupted so that no microphone can be used and the audience will barely be seen. The expert speaker calms his/herself with “not to worry” phrases and hopes that the power will be back up by presentation time. The ability to adapt, after all, is one of the most prized skills of a motivational speaker. Power going out is but one of the many last minute things that can happen to an expert speaker. Having the speaker’s notes in a piece of airline luggage in Houston when the event is in Boston can be a bit more difficult. But the most difficult adaptation a motivational speaker must make is when they find out, at the last minute, that the majority of the audience speaks Japanese! All the time and preparation can never absolutely guarantee that all will be as expected. The fact remains that unexpected things happen!

POST EVENT LET DOWN
The delivery has been made, contract complete, the adrenaline rush ebbed. Now the expert speaker waits to receive the formal organization’s evaluation of his/her performance. It is not only important that the hiring organization do an evaluation, but the expert motivational speaker should also do a self-evaluation. Putting ego on the line is never easy but in this case extremely necessary. How many other professions subject themselves to such examination?

So, the next time the reader is fortunate enough to be listening to a well prepared, effective and motivating expert speaker, remember what is written here. It takes blood, sweat and tears to get a good keynote presentation complete.

The fee given is not generally for a “canned” presentation…it is about creating your groups  individual need.