Ric Elias Speaks for Ted.com

The speech that I watched on Ted.com was Ric Elias: Three Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed. Although Ric Elias is a very successful businessman, he did not mention his career once in this speech. He talked about three things he learned about his life, when it was almost taken from him.

On January 15th 2009, Ric Elias was on board US Airways flight 1549, which was successfully ditched into the Hudson River, after the engine was affected by birds. In his speech, Elias talks about his experience and how it has affected his life. He states while enduring that terrible ordeal, three things came to mind that greatly altered how he would live the rest of his life. The lessons he learned were very powerful because they are principles that can be applied to both life and business. Here were the lessons Elias learned:

1. It all changes in an instant. As the plane was crashing, Elias thought about all the things that he had meant to do and experiences that he had meant to have, but had postponed. He stated that he never wants to postpone anything again. He lives his life with a sense of urgency. He feels extremely lucky that his life didn’t end when it could have, and has realized how short it is. When his time does come, he wants to make sure he took advantage of everything that he wanted to do in his life.

2. He had let his ego get in the way. He realized how many times he really had wasted time on things that don’t matter with people that do matter, because of his ego. He now doesn’t sweat the less important things in life. He also mentioned that he hadn’t gotten in a fight with his wife in two years. He stated, “I no longer choose to be right. I choose to be happy”.

3. He learned what was important to him. He said the one thing that he really thought about right before he hit the water was that he wished he would be able to see his kids grow up. That moment really taught him that the one thing in life that he wanted was to be the best dad possible. Every day he reminds himself of this and lives to be a great dad, above all.

The main thing that I thought was so amazing about this speech was that the speaker said so much in such little time. He learned those lessons in just over five minutes while on that plane, and inspired the audience with his words in roughly the same amount of time. As, I mentioned before, I believe these lessons can be applied to both life and business. I have truly taken his words to heart and want to be able to think of those three lessons in every aspect in life.

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The Broadway League: An Overview

The Broadway League is an association to Broadway theatre and has been around since 1930, with the original objective of theatrical operators to meet with unions and guilds to negotiate agreements. It then became a place to serve the needs of producers and Broadway shows that were on Broadway or touring nationally. Now however, the trade association completely dedicated to creating interest in Broadway and helping to create successful productions. The company really caters to anyone who is at all involved in making the success of Broadway. The members include: theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers of Broadway and Touring Broadway productions, as well as theatrical suppliers, restauranteurs, shipping and freight companies, booking agents, travel agents, designers, ticketing agents, and hotel managers. It really also strives to increase interest in commercial theatre in America and help to convey Broadway as a great entertainment medium.

On the site you are able to navigate to several different areas. I have realized there is a ton of information out there and you can spend hours on the website. There is the typical “About” section, which gives you the history, board of directors, etc. Then there is the “Programs and Services” which includes links to buying Broadway tickets, a Broadway fan club, and a link to where you can order Broadway stars for corporate entertainment! There “Research and Education” section is great. They have the current grosses of each of the productions and have seasonal in-depth statistical studies for both the productions and the audience demographics.

The “Professional Development” section had a community open to the public called, “New Producers Alliance” that has several events throughout the year. The community is aimed at giving a home to new producers, allowing them to network, seek advice, and discuss areas of mutual interest. They have several panel discussions with successful producers about how to be successful when starting up. Some of their recent panel discussions were: Presenting Readings and Workshops and Getting Exposure: The Relationships between Producers, Press Representatives and Members of the Press. I thought this was such a cool thing, being free to the public. I know there are lots of producers out there willing to give workshops, but they usually ask for a pretty high price. It is great to know that there are people that truly want to help others succeed, whether the people they are helping out are seasoned professionals or have little to no experience!

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