Two time USA Memory Champion and memory expert Ron White shares his journey from Moscow to speaking with the Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, in Singapore and Malaysia.
When I was asked to speak in Singapore a few months ago I had no idea what an incredible adventure it would be! It was an adventure for many reasons. First of all the speech in Singapore was Sunday May 22 and I had a speech in New Orleans on Friday May 20th. This means after my speech ended I headed straight to the airport and was on my way to Singapore via Moscow! How interesting it was to land at the airport in Moscow. In the last few years, I have been to Japan (the country my grandfather battled in WWII in the Pacific) and no Moscow the country my father stood against in the Army in Korea (indirectly as the Soviets were backing N Korea). Isn’t it amazing how time heals wounds?
My layover in Moscow was about 2 hours and I walked around but in reality an airport is an airport and you don’t get much of a feel for the country. Back on the airplane for me and the memory guy was off to Singapore now. 24 hours after I left New Orleans I landed in Singapore and a few hours after that I was standing on the stage in front of 1500 ready to teach my memory training seminar.
I had not slept in 24 hours but I really poured my heart into a 90 minute talk on the power of a trained memory and how to use memory techniques to improve grades, memorize names, recall poems or anything else. I memorized a 50 digit number live on stage with no sleep and was cruising along. Then the moment of truth arose….do I sell a product package for $500? or go for the biggest product package sale of my life and sell a 2 day seminar for $2,000 per person? In this decision that I am sure will shape all future speeches I give, I sold a $2,000 per person 2 day seminar and then walked off stage not knowing what to expect……
In a 15 minute period that confirmed the value my memory training brings a line longer than I ever imagined formed to enroll in my 2 day event. The value for this training is there. The value of this memory training is $2,000 per person and I am going to hit a HOME RUN in delivering the event to these lucky folks.
As if it wasn’t enough to hit a home run with a great speech and then sell out on my 2 day seminar at $2,000 per person I got to meet the speaker who followed me. Who would that be you ask? LOU FERRIGNO THE INCREDIBLE HULK!! Now how cool is that!? Someone I grew up watching on television was now standing beside me about to go on the stage I just left. To make the story even more interesting, The Incredible Hulk was created by Stan Lee and Stan Lee is the host of the new show I am on called ‘Superhumans’. So in essence two of Stan Lee’s creations were meeting for the first time in Singapore!
Today I am in Bangkok preparing for my talk here and then I head to Malaysia to share the stage with The Incredible Hulk once again in a few days. This has been an incredible trip in terms of the travel and getting to see Moscow (even if just the airport). It was incredible because of delivering a great speech on no sleep, raising my level of belief in my memory training product package and of course meeting THE INCREDIBLE HULK!!! What an awesome experience!!!!
